I have a good friend in China. When I heard Shanghai citizens had been asked to stay at home I emailed to see how his family was doing. They were making the best of the situation, but it was difficult to keep his factory closed and stay at home for a full month. While I haven’t felt like it was time to panic I have considered what it would be like for a whole city so big that it takes 8 hours to drive through it to be closed down. I have reflected on what we might do in such a situation here.
I have never seen a true epidemic in my lifetime, and while there are people older than I am there are more younger, so most people where we live have never known anything but being able to do and have what they want at any time. It is hard to even comprehend life not continuing as we are accustomed. However, that could change almost over night.
With the Corona Virus in so many countries now our CDC has said it would be a good idea to have supplies for at least 30 days in the event that the virus starts to spread rapidly in the US. This could be the test to see how prepared you really are. Do you have food, hygiene products, and activities for children to do when you can’t leave your house? While we will most likely still have water, electricity, and sanitation services things would certainly be different if we all spent a month at home.
It isn’t time to panic, but it may be a good time to evaluate what you really need to take care of your family without leaving the house for 30 days, and how that would affect you financially and in other ways.
There is a paper that gives a lot more on this topic under 2020 papers.