The essential items you need to get through a pandemic

For parents, the advice comes to stock up on diapers and first-aid kits. However, parents should also be wary about baby wipes and should not use them to disinfect or clean down every day items. This is because they are not effective at killing off the virus.

The World Health Organisation has instead advised the use of hand sanitisers or soap and water if you are unable to purchase hand hygiene products due to supermarkets and other online retailers running out of stock.

However, there are still some lesser known medical companies supplying hand sanitisers in bulk, like Hunter Medical that can keep you and your family safe during the pandemic.

Stock up on dried goods

Preparing for self-quarantine during the pandemic means you should stock up on supplies that will last for 14 days.

Panic buyers have been discouraged by the Government as this leaves the vulnerable and key workers unable to have access to essentials.

Instead, try to stock up only for 14 days and concentrate on things like bottled water, canned goods, rice, pasta, beans and oats.

But don’t deny yourself of comfort foods such as chocolate – foods like this can make all the difference during a pandemic and can greatly affect your mental health and morale.

Make sure you have enough household hygiene products like hand sanitiser

Being at home may give the illusion of safety, however, the coronavirus can still penetrate your fall walls if you are not careful.

This new emergence comes as Amazon had to close many of its distribution centres after finding traces of the virus on their packages. Leading the public in panic about receiving possible infected online orders. This has now led to residents disinfecting the food shop items before placing them in their home.

Not only this, but new research has found the coronavirus can survive on the soles of your shoes for five days.

So ensuring you have enough cleaning products and hand sanitiser is essential. This comes as regular and diligent hand washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect yourself from the coronavirus and prevent the transmission to others.

Only hand sanitisers containing a minimum of 60% alcohol are effective. Buy them here.

Medication

If you require any prescription medications, it’s important you have at least a 30-day supply.

In regards to over the counter medicines, it’s important to make sure that you are stocked up on paracetamol, this will ensure your fever is brought down if you start developing symptoms of the coronavirus.

Other medicines like Ibuprofen have been advised against. The World Health Organisation has now recommended that you avoid Ibuprofen and similar anti-inflammatory drugs as they could worsen the effects of the virus.

 Here’s a list of stuff you should not prioritise during the outbreak:

• Face masks – unless you are ill: Whilst wearing a face mask does offer some protection against catching COVID-19, it is recommended instead to wash your hands more frequently and prioritise this rather than stock up on face masks. Because there is a shortage of these face masks right now they are not an essential item for members of the public staying at home. They are needed for medical professionals, doctors and NHS staff dealing with the crisis and sick people who require them to not further infect others. Therefore, it is advised that you should not buy a mask unless a medical professional advises you to do so.
• No dehydrated food: There’s also a big shortage here, but these foods are full of salts and often deprive the body of vital fluids and water. It is therefore better to stick to fresh fruits, which can be frozen like blueberries.
• Extra toilet paper – don’t buy more unless you need it: At the moment the Government is urging the public not to hoard any product, this is to ensure that normal supply streams continue to run and reach more people. Otherwise this leads to more shoppers in the supermarket more frequently as they are unable to purchase what they require.