theodric/recognise and survive COVID-19 coronavirus

## recognise and survive COVID-19 coronavirus
*** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER ***
The contents of this file are essentially a laundry list of things you should definitely not do
beceause they might get you killed. I am not just not telling you to do this, I am telling you
NOT to do this. OK? Disclaimer accepted? Because please don't sue me, I'm just trying to keep
you alive, but I'm not a medical authority so you should assume I got all this information from
4chan and infowars and not from like the WHO or the CDC. Cool? Great.
*** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER *** DISCLAIMER ***

Basic guide to staying the fuck home:
https://staythefuckhome.com/

TIPS:
* It is not just a flu! Current data shows fatality rate of 20x (TWENTY TIMES) that of Influenza.
* It is not nearly as deadly as SARS, but it is WAY more contagious.
* The risk is not necessarily that it will kill you, but that if the entire population of a
  country gets infected at once, the healthcare system becomes overrun. Consider a typical
  European country of 40 million people. Do you think there are 40 million intensive care
  ventilators available? Or 4 million? Or 400,000? NO! More like 10,000, if you're real lucky.
  So if 0.00025% of the country's population gets sick enough to need hospitalisation,
  every ICU bed in the country is full. Everyone who comes after that has to get in line.
  Now you have a car crash. Or a difficult birth. Or infected cut. Maybe those are all fatal now.
  Not because any of them needed to be, but because all beds and nurse-hours are used up.
  Now they send Grandma or Mom home to die because a 30-year-old stands a better chance of
  surviving if they spend the ventilator on them instead. Just a flu.
  This is happening right now in Italy. It's not a prediction, it's a news report. Go look.
* COVID also has a high complication rate compared to flu.
* EVERYONE, even kids under 10, are at risk for CONTRACTING it (tho kids <10 seem to be mostly OK)
* Kids don't show symptoms but spread it like wildfire. Drop infected kids with Grandpa? He's dead.
* Older people are at a much higher risk for DYING
* If you are 50+ or are already sick, you are at increased risk.
* Even people in their 20s/30s can get VERY VERY SICK from this virus. Some die, but fewer.

* Treat other people like they're emitting an aerosol spray of particles containing virus, because
  THEY ARE.
* Social Distancing means staying away from other people. Even if you're bored. Even if you wish
  this were all over. Even if you just really want to have a pint at the local pub.
* Don't use public transport.
* While Internet and shops still exist, use Google Trends to find the lowest foot-traffic times for
  your grocery store and go then.
* Masks do not work ON THEIR OWN: the virus enters through ALL mucus membranes. Mouth, nose, eyes,
  rectum, vagina, and any new ones you've mananged to evolve since I wrote this.
* If you need a mask, you really need goggles, too. Wrap-around sunglasses and safety goggles are
  better than nothing, assuming you can manage to get something like a seal around the edges.
* Respirator masks DO WORK (BEST: FFP3/P100; OK: FFP2/N95) but it is very easy to take one off wrong
  and spread infection that you managed to catch with the mask. Don't touch the outside of the mask!
* Surgical masks are mainly useful for keeping sick peoples' bodily fluids *in*.
* Heat and humidity, including your breath, swell the fibers of the mask and causes the distances
  between them to expand. This means that bigger particles, like viruses, can get through:
  DON'T BOIL OR SOAK MASKS: THIS KILLS THE MASK!
* Your best bet if you're forced to reuse masks is to have several masks and rotate through them,
  leaving the used ones to sit for 3+ days somewhere you won't be near them and inadvertently
  reinfect yourself.
* The WHO's statement seems to be wrong: COVID-19 can live for 3 DAYS outside of a host, depending
  on the type of surface and environmental conditions.
  https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf
  Cardboard: 24 hours; smooth plastic/stainless steel: 72 hours.
  This means that it is MAYBE THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE for mailed packages to contain viable specimens.
* Current research seems to indicate that 800IU or 20 micrograms of Vitamin D3 per day reduces the
  likelihood of respiratory problems:
  https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/356/bmj.i6583.full.pdf
  Summary: 800IU/20 micrograms PER DAY or 5600IU/224 micrograms PER WEEK is the sweet spot.
           Taking more than 800IU actually seems to DECREASE the effect. By the time you exceed
           2000 IU, you might as well not have taken any at all! Mind the dose.

COVID-19 symptoms:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963
Typical symptoms:
* Fever (frequent)
** Fever is an oral temperature above 100.4°F/38°C or a rectal or ear temperature above 101°F/38.3°C
* Dry cough that does not produce much coughed-up snot/liquid
* Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
* Pneumonia (see above)
* Muscle ache
* Other fluey symptoms but pay special attention to the ones above

* Fever is an essential part of the body's fight against the virus! Fever reducers are only HELPFUL
  if the fever is so high (103ºF/39.4ºC) that it presents a risk to the body/brain. Otherwise you
  are just reducing the effectiveness of your immune system's response by dropping your temperature.

Symptoms appear after between 2-14 days following exposure, as of 2020-03-15 we think they typically appear within about 5 days.
You can spread disease if you have no symptoms.
As of 2020-03-15 we *think* you are no longer contagious after you have recovered, but hey, who knows?
Quarantine for 14 days after suspected exposure and mind your symptoms. Take temps 2-3 times per day and note any consistent rises.

If you are symptomatic:
* Call a doctor, if there are still doctors in your time
* Stay away from other people

Masks DIY: https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/
Tea towels/dishrags and HEPA filters from vaccuum cleaners and furnaces are legitimately better than nothing, at least for keeping sick peoples' fluids *IN*


How to remove a mask without infecting yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OABvzu9e-hw
Mask-safe facial hair (tl;dr SHAVE IT OFF UNTIL YOU GET A SEAL): https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

Sanitizer:
You can use any alcohol over 65% volume to sanitize. Vodka is ~40% and is useless for this.
Don't bother making sanitizer gel.
If you insist on making gel, note that you're diluting the solution, so now you need higher alcohol% like 99%.

Pneumonia:
Get a $10-$100 pulse oximeter and monitor your blood oxygen levels to check if you're getting enough oxygen:
https://www.amazon.com/Oximeter-Fingertip-Saturation-Portable-Batteries/dp/B07QQWZQRL
"Normal pulse oximeter readings usually range from 95 to 100 percent. Values under 90 percent are considered low."

Ventilation:
It is possible to manually ventilate someone with a cheap device known as an "ambu bag" but note that if
a person is far-enough gone to necessitate ventilation, you are probably only buying a little time if any.
If you need to vent them then you probably also need to manage perfusion and that is not something you can
do with McGuyvered crap from Home Depot. Nevertheless...
This is an ambu bag: https://www.amazon.com/NEcommerce-PVC-Tubing-Reservoir-Adult/dp/B07P616J9K
This is how you use one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1goz1l28kUQ
Oxygen is available from welding supplies companies (non-medical-grade but often from same suppliers).
But no guarantees it is not doped with other inert gases. Most people dont know you have to have at
least 2 stages of decompression (including using water or something similar).
TREAD CAREFULLY: this is a last-ditch survival effort if the medical system has already collapsed.

** WAITING IT OUT **
Store water if you want. 3 liters per day per XX female, 4 liters per day per XY male.

Prioritize calorie-dense foods.
Doesn't hurt to have vitamin C supplements so you don't get scurvy. Because that would suck.

Keep these in a dark, dry place, not stored in plastic bags, but spread in a single layer. If you
pile them up, you won't notice when a bad spot in one apple turns into a pile of rot:
* Garlic
* Onions
* Potatoes
* Carrots
* Parsnips
* Turnips / Swede / rutabaga
* Apples
* Citrus, but keep it separate from the rest. Citrus likes to mold like hell and sporulate everywhere.

Non-perishables:
* Salt
* Sugar
* Spices
* Herbs
* Gelatin powder/sheets
* Pasta
* Rice
* Dried lentils/peas/legumes
* Rice
* Grains (barley, bulgur, quinoa, couscous)
* Flour
* Tree nuts
* Peanuts
* Nut butters
* Fats (will eventually go rancid)
* Oils (will eventually go rancid)

Preserves:
* Pickles
* Pickled onions
* Pickled eggs
* Jams
* Jellies (for Americans who understand that jam, jelly, and Jell-O are three totally different foods)


Drinks
* Beer
* Wine
* Liquor


::: Ideas
* Beer brewing has been used for thousands of years to make water safe to drink while creating
  calorie-rich storeable food.

* It is also possible to distill stronger alcohols, theoretically from any cellulose, but
  grains/potatoes are well-known sources.

::: Communication
1-way:
* Shortwave radio receivers are a good investment since you can typically also use them to listen
  to local radio stations.

2-way:
* Get a license-free handheld radio which you can use to shout out to other people. If everyone has
  a radio, we can talk even with the Internet clogged or broken. This is good for your mental health.
* A CB radio is a good bed. In USA, there's also FRS radio; and in Europe, its counterpart PMR446.
  The handsets are cheap and dead-easy to operate: pick a channel, mash the mic button, and talk.
  Release to listen. Don't transmit data, it's not always legal.

* To transmit data over the airwaves, familiarize yourself with "digital modes." Free software like
  fldigi for macOS, Windows, and Linux can do most of the work of encoding and decoding.
  This can be accomplished in bad circumstances by literally holding your radio handset up to your
  computer speaker and pressing down the mic button while the software warbles out irritating bleeps.

* There's also software-defined radio, which may be nicer. I'm surprised how many hams haven't
  heard of SDR. You can get started for about $20. Google "rtl-sdr"

::: Off-grid / grid-is-off survival
Offline survival manual app for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ligi.survivalmanual
Survival manual app for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/survival-guide/id407204621 (not sure if offline!!)
FM 21-76 US Army Survival Manual: https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf
	* DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER ***
	The contents of this file are essentially a laundry list of things you should definitely not do
	beceause they might get you killed. I am not just not telling you to do this, I am telling you
	NOT to do this. OK? Disclaimer accepted? Because please don't sue me, I'm just trying to keep
	you alive, but I'm not a medical authority so you should assume I got all this information from
	4chan and infowars and not from like the WHO or the CDC. Cool? Great.
	* DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER * DISCLAIMER ***

	Basic guide to staying the fuck home:
	https://staythefuckhome.com/

	TIPS:
	* It is not just a flu! Current data shows fatality rate of 20x (TWENTY TIMES) that of Influenza.
	* It is not nearly as deadly as SARS, but it is WAY more contagious.
	* The risk is not necessarily that it will kill you, but that if the entire population of a
	country gets infected at once, the healthcare system becomes overrun. Consider a typical
	European country of 40 million people. Do you think there are 40 million intensive care
	ventilators available? Or 4 million? Or 400,000? NO! More like 10,000, if you're real lucky.
	So if 0.00025% of the country's population gets sick enough to need hospitalisation,
	every ICU bed in the country is full. Everyone who comes after that has to get in line.
	Now you have a car crash. Or a difficult birth. Or infected cut. Maybe those are all fatal now.
	Not because any of them needed to be, but because all beds and nurse-hours are used up.
	Now they send Grandma or Mom home to die because a 30-year-old stands a better chance of
	surviving if they spend the ventilator on them instead. Just a flu.
	This is happening right now in Italy. It's not a prediction, it's a news report. Go look.
	* COVID also has a high complication rate compared to flu.
	* EVERYONE, even kids under 10, are at risk for CONTRACTING it (tho kids <10 seem to be mostly OK)
	* Kids don't show symptoms but spread it like wildfire. Drop infected kids with Grandpa? He's dead.
	* Older people are at a much higher risk for DYING
	* If you are 50+ or are already sick, you are at increased risk.
	* Even people in their 20s/30s can get VERY VERY SICK from this virus. Some die, but fewer.

	* Treat other people like they're emitting an aerosol spray of particles containing virus, because
	THEY ARE.
	* Social Distancing means staying away from other people. Even if you're bored. Even if you wish
	this were all over. Even if you just really want to have a pint at the local pub.
	* Don't use public transport.
	* While Internet and shops still exist, use Google Trends to find the lowest foot-traffic times for
	your grocery store and go then.
	* Masks do not work ON THEIR OWN: the virus enters through ALL mucus membranes. Mouth, nose, eyes,
	rectum, vagina, and any new ones you've mananged to evolve since I wrote this.
	* If you need a mask, you really need goggles, too. Wrap-around sunglasses and safety goggles are
	better than nothing, assuming you can manage to get something like a seal around the edges.
	* Respirator masks DO WORK (BEST: FFP3/P100; OK: FFP2/N95) but it is very easy to take one off wrong
	and spread infection that you managed to catch with the mask. Don't touch the outside of the mask!
	* Surgical masks are mainly useful for keeping sick peoples' bodily fluids in.
	* Heat and humidity, including your breath, swell the fibers of the mask and causes the distances
	between them to expand. This means that bigger particles, like viruses, can get through:
	DON'T BOIL OR SOAK MASKS: THIS KILLS THE MASK!
	* Your best bet if you're forced to reuse masks is to have several masks and rotate through them,
	leaving the used ones to sit for 3+ days somewhere you won't be near them and inadvertently
	reinfect yourself.
	* The WHO's statement seems to be wrong: COVID-19 can live for 3 DAYS outside of a host, depending
	on the type of surface and environmental conditions.
	https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf
	Cardboard: 24 hours; smooth plastic/stainless steel: 72 hours.
	This means that it is MAYBE THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE for mailed packages to contain viable specimens.
	* Current research seems to indicate that 800IU or 20 micrograms of Vitamin D3 per day reduces the
	likelihood of respiratory problems:
	https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/356/bmj.i6583.full.pdf
	Summary: 800IU/20 micrograms PER DAY or 5600IU/224 micrograms PER WEEK is the sweet spot.
	Taking more than 800IU actually seems to DECREASE the effect. By the time you exceed
	2000 IU, you might as well not have taken any at all! Mind the dose.

	COVID-19 symptoms:
	https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
	https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963
	Typical symptoms:
	* Fever (frequent)
	** Fever is an oral temperature above 100.4°F/38°C or a rectal or ear temperature above 101°F/38.3°C
	* Dry cough that does not produce much coughed-up snot/liquid
	* Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
	* Pneumonia (see above)
	* Muscle ache
	* Other fluey symptoms but pay special attention to the ones above

	* Fever is an essential part of the body's fight against the virus! Fever reducers are only HELPFUL
	if the fever is so high (103ºF/39.4ºC) that it presents a risk to the body/brain. Otherwise you
	are just reducing the effectiveness of your immune system's response by dropping your temperature.

	Symptoms appear after between 2-14 days following exposure, as of 2020-03-15 we think they typically appear within about 5 days.
	You can spread disease if you have no symptoms.
	As of 2020-03-15 we think you are no longer contagious after you have recovered, but hey, who knows?
	Quarantine for 14 days after suspected exposure and mind your symptoms. Take temps 2-3 times per day and note any consistent rises.

	If you are symptomatic:
	* Call a doctor, if there are still doctors in your time
	* Stay away from other people

	Masks DIY: https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/
	Tea towels/dishrags and HEPA filters from vaccuum cleaners and furnaces are legitimately better than nothing, at least for keeping sick peoples' fluids IN


	How to remove a mask without infecting yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OABvzu9e-hw
	Mask-safe facial hair (tl;dr SHAVE IT OFF UNTIL YOU GET A SEAL): https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

	Sanitizer:
	You can use any alcohol over 65% volume to sanitize. Vodka is ~40% and is useless for this.
	Don't bother making sanitizer gel.
	If you insist on making gel, note that you're diluting the solution, so now you need higher alcohol% like 99%.

	Pneumonia:
	Get a $10-$100 pulse oximeter and monitor your blood oxygen levels to check if you're getting enough oxygen:
	https://www.amazon.com/Oximeter-Fingertip-Saturation-Portable-Batteries/dp/B07QQWZQRL
	"Normal pulse oximeter readings usually range from 95 to 100 percent. Values under 90 percent are considered low."

	Ventilation:
	It is possible to manually ventilate someone with a cheap device known as an "ambu bag" but note that if
	a person is far-enough gone to necessitate ventilation, you are probably only buying a little time if any.
	If you need to vent them then you probably also need to manage perfusion and that is not something you can
	do with McGuyvered crap from Home Depot. Nevertheless...
	This is an ambu bag: https://www.amazon.com/NEcommerce-PVC-Tubing-Reservoir-Adult/dp/B07P616J9K
	This is how you use one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1goz1l28kUQ
	Oxygen is available from welding supplies companies (non-medical-grade but often from same suppliers).
	But no guarantees it is not doped with other inert gases. Most people dont know you have to have at
	least 2 stages of decompression (including using water or something similar).
	TREAD CAREFULLY: this is a last-ditch survival effort if the medical system has already collapsed.

	WAITING IT OUT
	Store water if you want. 3 liters per day per XX female, 4 liters per day per XY male.

	Prioritize calorie-dense foods.
	Doesn't hurt to have vitamin C supplements so you don't get scurvy. Because that would suck.

	Keep these in a dark, dry place, not stored in plastic bags, but spread in a single layer. If you
	pile them up, you won't notice when a bad spot in one apple turns into a pile of rot:
	* Garlic
	* Onions
	* Potatoes
	* Carrots
	* Parsnips
	* Turnips / Swede / rutabaga
	* Apples
	* Citrus, but keep it separate from the rest. Citrus likes to mold like hell and sporulate everywhere.

	Non-perishables:
	* Salt
	* Sugar
	* Spices
	* Herbs
	* Gelatin powder/sheets
	* Pasta
	* Rice
	* Dried lentils/peas/legumes
	* Rice
	* Grains (barley, bulgur, quinoa, couscous)
	* Flour
	* Tree nuts
	* Peanuts
	* Nut butters
	* Fats (will eventually go rancid)
	* Oils (will eventually go rancid)

	Preserves:
	* Pickles
	* Pickled onions
	* Pickled eggs
	* Jams
	* Jellies (for Americans who understand that jam, jelly, and Jell-O are three totally different foods)


	Drinks
	* Beer
	* Wine
	* Liquor


	::: Ideas
	* Beer brewing has been used for thousands of years to make water safe to drink while creating
	calorie-rich storeable food.

	* It is also possible to distill stronger alcohols, theoretically from any cellulose, but
	grains/potatoes are well-known sources.

	::: Communication
	1-way:
	* Shortwave radio receivers are a good investment since you can typically also use them to listen
	to local radio stations.

	2-way:
	* Get a license-free handheld radio which you can use to shout out to other people. If everyone has
	a radio, we can talk even with the Internet clogged or broken. This is good for your mental health.
	* A CB radio is a good bed. In USA, there's also FRS radio; and in Europe, its counterpart PMR446.
	The handsets are cheap and dead-easy to operate: pick a channel, mash the mic button, and talk.
	Release to listen. Don't transmit data, it's not always legal.

	* To transmit data over the airwaves, familiarize yourself with "digital modes." Free software like
	fldigi for macOS, Windows, and Linux can do most of the work of encoding and decoding.
	This can be accomplished in bad circumstances by literally holding your radio handset up to your
	computer speaker and pressing down the mic button while the software warbles out irritating bleeps.

	* There's also software-defined radio, which may be nicer. I'm surprised how many hams haven't
	heard of SDR. You can get started for about $20. Google "rtl-sdr"

	::: Off-grid / grid-is-off survival
	Offline survival manual app for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ligi.survivalmanual
	Survival manual app for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/survival-guide/id407204621 (not sure if offline!!)
	FM 21-76 US Army Survival Manual: https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf