I think that beyond vaccination (I get it every year), proper hygiene is the most important. Assuming you can't avoid crowds, keep distance from people so that sneeze droplets can't make it to your own face.

When in public, avoid touching your face at all cost, wash your hands regularly and use hand sanitizer when hand washing isn't available, not as a substitute to hand washing.

If you're an employer or manager, enforce strict "if you're sick, stay home!" policy. If you're sick, also stay home and rest.

keeping a good supply of medical masks in storage and keeping cotton ones that can be boiled and reused are both good ideas but yes proper hygiene and if possible having a sick room even better

Per heli and farmgirl. To add to the good to have items are a healthy supply of latex free gloves and disposable or washable gowns and booties. Bleach and vinegar for cleaning of surfaces, adult diapers for those confined to bed, alcohol, peroxide, Vaseline to keep lips moist, broths, juices, lots of muscle pain relief....

creepy or truly sad point is what farmgirl mentioned. The sick room! I have thought of it and I cant see me leaving a family member alone for large parts of the day. My wife is a nurse and would know all the tricks in gowning etc, but to isolate or semi isolate a loved one would, while necessary, be brutal. Serving and subsequently cleaning food dishes, bathing them, changing of sheets,.. would all have to be done with great care or there would be little point.

Thinking of a hospital, it’s one thing to think of going to visit them and leave others to care for them in a cold and antiseptic fashion, but another for us to do that with a wife or child and not break protocol and kiss their forehead or hold a loved ones hand would be very difficult to do.

I also remember the sars outbreak and listening to how nurses ungarbed and went home and other major failures in isolating germs. There are ways to undress, remove gloves and not touch other garments. Then there are staging rooms to undress and then get back into street cloths. Most people and that includes medical personnel do not wear their N95 mask properly. They need to be properly fitted to one face, so if serious about wearing them, people should check to make sure they have the right model for their face and it fits over nose, cheeks and mouth properly. We were very lucky on how that outbreak turned out.

I think that like any shtf type event, the optimal procedure is to reduce contact with your fellow man. If one is healthy and can avoid shopping, traveling, visiting hospitals etc, the better the odds of staying germ free. So once more, we see the importance of a well stocked home and being as debt free as possible. Having to go to work and trying to avoid germs while opening doors, pushing elevator buttons and Breathing recycled office air is impossible. You will be infected and not even know it until it’s to late and you will have passed onto others in the house as well.

In the case of a severe disease outbreak, The importance of having ones finances in good shape and being able to not go into work is going to be ones first line of defence. The rest are secondary measures.

Another interesting read on epidemics etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/18/end-epidemics-aids-ebola-sars-sunday-essay

Yeppers. Our health care folks and gov are useless. We have been lucky, but odds don’t favor us. Economic freedom will be a big help, because if you can avoid going to work, you cut down on exposure. HVing supplies, also means less interaction with people.

Hard or near impossible for a young family with school and jobs. All you can do is reduce exposure, build up your health, practice good hygiene and containment.

To be clear, it’s not so much the boots on the ground, though some are truly useless. It’s more the BS messaging, lies, incompetence and pure being unprepared. This of course confuses front line efforts and due to poor preparations, stupidity etc put health care workers and population at risk

The SARS fiasco was hard to watch and even my young daughters were able to pick out the blatent contradictions in the news updates.

Having a good supply of N95 masks and knowing how to fit to your face is essential. Shave the beard and moustache so they fit properly!

Hundreds of the right sized medical gloves will be handy, peroxide, vinegar, bleach, alcohol, adult diapers, disposable gowns, and solid experience on how to de-gown, handle waste and cleanup after treating people or simply coming home from an outing