How to Prepare for a Biological Threat

You don’t want to be unprepared for a biological threat. A biological attack can make you sick, and some have been deadly. The typical attacks are germs released in the air for you to inhale, but other viruses have been released in foods and other points of contact with unsuspecting people. Here’s how to prepare against future biological attacks:

Stay Informed

When there’s a biological threat, there will be numerous news reports and updates to keep the public informed on the status of the threat, and precautions to take. It’s important to have all channels of communications open and working. You should also have radios that can work independent of electricity, just in case a biological threat prevents power plants from remaining open. A must-have for all families is an AM/FM receiver that you can crank up without the use of  batteries or electricity. You can use it to hear emergency reports and updates in case of a blackout.

Don’t Expose Yourself

Biological threats are usually targeted to certain areas or groups of people. If you remain informed you can avoid contact, as much as possible, with those groups or areas being targeted. In order to do that, you have to prepare ahead of time to be able to stay home for prolonged periods of time.

Buy Enough Food

You don’t want to go running around town looking for food to eat during a biological threat. Take the time now to store the foods you regularly eat, so that you can stay home for at least 30 days. You can store canned goods only for a short time before you have to rotate them, typically one to two years. The better approach is to buy foods stored in #10 cans with a shelf life of 5 or more years, and ready-to-eat meals with a similar shelf life. Then you would only have to worry about rotating those foods every 5 to 10 years.

Have Enough Water

You could go without food for a while, but you can’t live without water for longer than 3 days. Your top priority is to figure out how you will get water if you can’t leave your home. A biological threat may or may not cause blackouts, due to workers getting sick or other security reasons. You should be prepared either way to have access to your own water supply. Buy a water filter that will purify water that you’re able to find at a creek, stream or river. Berkey water filters are a popular, portable choice for easy water filtration. Emergency water pouches weigh about 4 ounces and you can safely store them for at least 5 years. You can also buy water purification tablets to use in addition to a water filter.

The most important point to remember on how to prepare for a biological threat is to avoid exposure to the germs being used in the attack. That means you have to do everything you can now to be able to stay home, in order to keep your family safe.