Post-COVID Pandemic Check-In: How has your situation improved or changed?

Posted by SebWilms2002@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 28 comments

There's been some concerning discoveries about an H5N1 case in Canada suggesting some mutations that improve binding in Humans have occurred. But despite the consequences of human-to-human H5N1 potentially being much worse than COVID-19, my Husband and I have found we are way less worried than we were about COVID because of changes we made. I'm curious how your individual situation has changed, if at all, after the lessons learned from the COVID pandemic.

After COVID we went pedal to the metal in our careers, securing higher level positions and significant salary increases. We're now in positions that in the event of a Pandemic, we can work remotely from home which itself is a huge advantage. After COVID we did all the usual Prepper 101 stuff, building a deep pantry and stocking water, medicine, fuel, and household essentials. We practiced a wide variety of skills to improve our outcomes in the event essential items and services become unavailable. We also saw how disproportionately COVID-19 impacted people in poor health. At the outbreak of COVID my husband and I were like the average person. Slightly overweight, "office bodied", no strength or endurance, shit diet and bad sleep habits. We shifted to strict sleep schedules, whole foods, removing processed carbs, and limiting complex carbs. We do weight training, calisthenics and endurance training 5 days a week. In our 30s we're more healthy, energetic and strong than we've ever been.

How has your situation changed since COVID-19? Do you feel more or less prepared in the event of a new (potentially worse) pandemic?

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OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit

My answer's complicated and not generally applicable.

I was able to work from home during the worst of it, and then retire when that was no longer an option. I went all in on vaccination and masking. As a result, it was the healthiest couple years I can remember. No work stress, better diet, next to no exposure to airborne diseases... it actually kind of rocked, even if masking was annoying. I never got Covid. I got tired of washing vegetables for the first 6 months though, until it was decided that wasn't a serious vector of spread.

This year I moved to rural Costa Rica. Like a lot of this part of the world, virtually everything is open air - markets, shops, restaurants... and there's often quite a lot of sunlight. Airborne pathogens wither and die here. Colds, flu, Covid... just about unheard of. There's no need to mask. (It also helped that virtually everyone here got vaccinated, so even the cities got through the pandemic well.) Medical care, attitudes to vaccination and the general profile of health - I'm in a blue zone - are all amazing (and part of the reason I moved here). It's to the point that when I hear someone cough, I kind of stare - and it's inevitably a pale gringo just off a plane.

Put it this way: I was planning a trip back to the US, and even though I'm not in the universal heath care system here yet, I went to a clinic and asked to be vaccinated. I got asked point blank: "Why?" They hadn't seen a case in months. I explained I was going to the US in a few weeks and they just nodded and vaccinated me for free. "Good luck," they said. I think they felt sorry for me.

Bird flu... eh. No documented human-to-human transmission yet, it's clearly not well adapted to it and it might never be. I'm feeling good about my position. Admittedly, I do keep chickens here, and if bird flu becomes common here I'll have to get rid of them. (It's not impossible - some pelicans had it here last year.) But I can isolate if I need to, I still have an absurd number of N95 masks, and as noted airborne pathogens don't get far. A vaccine already exists and distribution will ramp up fast if it's a problem, and the locals will have no issue with lining up for vaccination. So there will likely be a good immunity wall here.

prepsson@reddit

I actually did alot better during the pandemic than I previously did. I slipped onto a banana peel into a delivery job that was super busy and kept me afloat... and i made some money doing sports. I was running up and down stairs and i could fit into pants that were 15 years old.

Company had a big brain moment when they fired me and then asked me right away if i wanted to work "under the table" but luckily i banana peeled into another job.

HankTheTankNYC@reddit

Jacked at 53, unvaxxed, had Covid once in 2021, fully recovered in 5 days and never got it again. Still jacked.

marchcrow@reddit

No such thing as "Post COVID Pandemic" - it is ongoing.

LordNoWhere@reddit

It is now endemic, no longer pandemic.

Source

Pick whatever word you like it's not over.

WilliamGnosis@reddit

This.

KingBones909@reddit

Absolutely nothing has changed for me. I wasn't inconvenienced by the pandemic nor did anyone I know get seriously ill. I got free paid vacation and now things are back to normal.

nunyabizz62@reddit

I now have about 2 years of food stored up. Make my own bread, rolls, buns, pasta

BaldyCarrotTop@reddit

I've mentioned it here before; It was the TP shortage of March 2020 that showed us how unprepared we were. It made us get really serious about our prepping.

How did we survive? Very well actually. I had just started working for a public school district, and my wife worked for a private school. She got laid off and collected unemployment, including that ridiculous $600.00 per week bonus. I was furloughed and kept my (our) insurance. I also collected unemployment and the $600.00 per week as well. We basically lived on government larges for a year or so, including food stamps. That actually helped us out financially by giving us a bit of a push. We got out of debt, built our savings.

So not bad really. I went back to work and my wife quit her job. And we began stocking our deep pantry.

Striking_Earth_786@reddit

Well, my life hasn't changed significantly, and overall my preps haven't either. I work as a paramedic (read: "healthcare's sacrificial lambs"). I got a hell of a lot of overtime during the pandemic, and can essentially have as much as I want still. But I'm enjoying building up the homestead. Inflation has kind of put a kibosh on the upgrades and improvements, but overall I'm still able to naturally improve quite a bit (still having trouble storing harvested seeds for planting the following year). Probably my next purchase will be either a still or a chainsaw mill. Either will end up helping me in the long run.

Into-Imagination@reddit

If we presume say (for sake of conversation) 2020, vs now?

Dramatically, and for the better, in every measurable metric: income, net worth, housing, where I’m located, and so on - all of which in turn have a significantly positive impact on my ability to be well prepared for any future pandemic or other emergency.

Total_Transition1533@reddit

Nothing has changed. I didn't get the clot shot. I retired. I'm doing great.

I didn't put a effing diaper on my face either.

AdditionalAd9794@reddit

I'm not really worried, definitely have become more skeptical.

The thing about bird flu, I've seen wild claims about a 50% mortality rate. Oddly in the US, we have zero deaths, 100% recovery rate and a 0% mortality rate.

I don't want to say the media outlets pushing these narratives are bold face liars. But at best the data the push is, flawed, skewed, misinformation.

Honestly I think it is simply due to the fact that claiming a %50 mortality rate orcwhatever gets more clicks, more views and makes them more money and that is all that matters to then at the end of the day

There are (at least) two strains of bird flu. One is much rarer and much more deadly. The other - usually just a mild cough and conjunctivitis. The US has, iirc, only seen the common one. Canada had a case of the more serious one and the patient nearly died. Given there have not been many human cases of the serious strain, CFR numbers are sketchy, but last I heard, yeah, 0.5 was the about the right estimate. If we're lucky it will never be so common that we get a batter estimate.

As usual, knowing what's going on takes more than a glance at your favorite opinion host. Epidemiology isn't simple and trivial differences in strains and variants make very different headlines.

Consider following epidemiologists instead of media. Media is desperate for clicks and will play up anything.

drAsparagus@reddit

Media outlets are bound to the hand that feeds. Just follow the money and unveil their biases. When Pfizer is the sponsor, expect zero negative press about them.

The media is propaganda.

I realized that most people are idiots who have no critical thinking and bow down to voices of "authority" despite it being a against their best wishes and livelihood.

So what did I do?

I moved back to my home state with a better community and more sensible people.

EffinBob@reddit

I was fine then and I'm fine now. Nothing has changed

Ryan_e3p@reddit

So, I get that COVID sucks. Absolutely. The long-term health implications, the way even the most basic things tore this country apart, the way it turned people since into stark raving fucking lunatics, the people dead, businesses who closed their doors permanently...

On the other hand, I flourished. I've not only learned but have really succeeded at picking up and putting into practice over a half a dozen new skillsets. I opened a small business of my own. I spent more time with my family than I have in the previous 5 years combined. Took time for me to do things I want to do, travel around the countryside and whatnot. I didn't just sit on my ass and wait for things to happen for me, I took initiative, and it really paid off, both financially, psychologically, and in terms of relationships.

As I look around the country though, people as a whole, they've gotten worse. Stupider. Lazier. Less prone to utilize critical thinking skills and self-examination. Way more prone to cognitive dissonance than I ever thought imaginable, and that's worrisome.

Radiant_Ad_6565@reddit

H5N1 was first identified in 1996. Since then it has had several small scale outbreaks. I wouldn’t worry about the bird flu, I’d worry about the government response to it. We saw what they did with Covid.

illkeepthatinmind@reddit

I certainly won't run out of masks any time soon

gilbert2gilbert@reddit

I moved underground. I might be under you right now. My bug out bag is full of bugs.

Unlikely-Ad3659@reddit

I had just started building a house when the lockdowns started, taken 2 years off work, so it made zero difference to me,

Followed the protocols to the letter with good grace, got vaccinated, had zero reaction to vaccination. not had COVID, not had a cold, still alcohol wash my hands leaving public areas. My preps are the same as they were more or less, probably added more entertainment options though.

And being can introvert, I enjoyed the lockdowns immensely.

I know some people seem to have a lot of anger at COVID stuff, but frankly it made nigh on zero difference to my life. I don't even know anyone irl who was seriously ill with it, though I also no of no one but me who hasn't had it.

DeafHeretic@reddit

I was off in early spring of 2020. I was working from home, and intended to work another year or two to beef up my IRAs and other cash reserves some more, but my workplace let go about 200 IT workers over the period of a couple of days, and sent some of the work to India. So I retired.

I did go on UI and got the state & fed UI subsidies for about 18 months (and yes, I did look for work, but only snagged one short temp gig in 2021). Once the UI subsidies stopped, I stopped looking for employment as I was ready to retire anyway - I had reached FRA in 2020 and started SS benefits that year.

Since then I have done okay. IRAs initially tanked, then recovered. They are not yet where I want them, but they keep appreciating. About a year ago I started pulling $ from the reg IRA (I also have a Roth) to meet my expenditures - mostly to cover discretionary spending as the SS benefits cover my non-discretionary expenses (mortgage, utils, groceries, medical, etc.). A good part of my non-discretionary spending is purchasing preps - otherwise I am fairly frugal.

I am expecting an economic downturn this next year if tariffs are put in effect; I see a resurgence of inflation if that happens (cost of goods going up). TBD

As for CV/RSV/flu/etc. - I am something of a hermit; I live very rural, 99% of my "social" interfacing is via the web, with the bi-monthly trips to town for phys-therapy & groceries. Given that, and vaccine shots, I am not worried about viral infections.

I did catch CV-19 in the summer of 2023 - just before I was going to get a shot (I usually do those in Sept). It wasn't too bad - I got some anti-viral meds and suffered thru it for about a week.

Former_Ad_8509@reddit

It ended a shitty unhealthy relationship and I met my current husband. We are on the same page, we are stronger together and we work toward a same goal. Our kids are better, our household is a lot more ready. We feel we can face whatever life throws at us.

Led_Zeppole_73@reddit

Aside from the lockdowns (except that I was an essential worker), covid never really affected me or my family because we weren’t sick. For my wife it actually made life simpler as she no longer has to commute 70 miles to office every work week.

mcapello@reddit

For us it's been a "two steps forward, one step back" sort of a situation.

We were highly prepared for COVID and had the resources to wait out a long lockdown if it were necessary.

During COVID itself, our overall health improved a lot during lockdown, with more time to exercise and take care of ourselves.

After RTO, however, things took a nosedive. Work schedules, childrens' schedules, transportation, inflation, all made a lot of our self-care routines a lot harder to manage. I was in the best shape of my life during COVID, but even after 3 years after/RTO, I still struggle to find time to exercise regularly. For whatever, the post-COVID grind is a lot harder than it was before the pandemic.

Our overall preparedness is still very good in terms of long-term supplies and equipment, but I still feel like we're struggling to get back to where we were before the pandemic in terms of overall healthy routines, fitness, and stability.