Hi Tabitha.  What a marvelous coincidence that you still have that link.  I'm really glad to see that you saved the "tinyurl".  After PFI shut down, I lost it.  Well done, my dear!   I've been doing it the hard way by sending my old .pdf out via e-mail to family, friends, and former colleagues.  So many woefully unprepared people!  Although I initially wrote that little monograph in anticipation of H5N1 (and subsequently added a section for A/H1N1), it seems that most of the prepping advice and cautionary statements are still relevant today.  This is especially true for our newest preppers who need some sort of plan for purchasing the right sorts of preps in a cost-effective manner ... and they need to know how to cope without utilities, as well.  Right?  Thank you for posting the link, Tabitha.  Stay safe, David

best reference ever Dr. DAVE!

David - your piece was the catalyst for me to start prepping seriously. I used to run off copies at work and leave them on buses and trolleys when it looked like H5N1 was getting ready to slap us down. 

I’ve never had the opportunity to thank you for taking the time to put it all down on paper before. It’s very much appreciated  

Excellent article, especially the way it lays out the dangers of relying on a JIT system as we do nowadays.

Howdy Jacksdad.  I'm really glad to hear that you've been sharing that old .pdf with folks.  I willingly admit that some of my rhetoric was a little heavy-handed, but it's now 11 years later, and we have more of a J.I.T. supply chain than ever before.  I recently retired from 19 years with a very sophisticated, well-respected company that supplies PPE and emergency provisions to The Red Cross, FEMA, every branch of the military, and most of the hospitals, fire departments, and law enforcement agencies in the USA and Canada.  I was part of their North American emergency response team, so I participated in disaster recovery and conference calls during which I heard discussions of very impressive logistic leverage, such as diverting entire semis of such items as water, bleach, and PPE away from retail distribution in order to support disaster relief efforts.  (My first experience was on 9-12-2001, when we sent a barge of emergency supplies from Newark to New York.)  In the past few days, I've made early morning visits to a lot of retailers, mostly to take note of what items are in short supply.  As you might expect, hand sanitizers are about as abundant as hens' teeth, and the only bleach you'll find is tainted with fragrance.  Yesterday, Amazon was offering Wal-Mart's 34 ounce bottle of "Equate" brand of hand sanitizer for sale.  Wal-Mart's price was $3.97 USD, although a recent check of 4 local Wal-Marts showed they were sold out.  Curiously, Amazon had this exact same item for sale, and their price was $17 USD.  My personal supply of hand sanitizer is the equivalent of 5 gallons, and I'm seeing the tiny 1 ounce bottles of Purell going for as much as $5 in local convenience stores.  Sorry for the rant.  Stay safe and please continue to share prepping adcive with your loved ones.

I was surprised to see that all the stores I visited  today had run out of isopropyl alcohol too. I didn’t think that people had caught on to that one yet.

Given it’s continuing relevance, have you considered updating your article to reflect current threats?  It’s a wonderfully researched and written piece that still has great value to preppers, whether they’re brand new or seasoned.

And I sent three coworkers home with copies today 👍🏻

Good Morning Jacksdad.  Several people have encouraged me to upgrade my document and consolidate my informal COVID-19 notes and e-mail blasts into a couple of reference pages and insert them after page 4.  I'm considering it, but since this event is so fluid, I run the risk of sharing obsolete information without realizing it.  For example, there is a lot of speculation and anecdotal chatter about how long it can remain viable on a dry surface and how long someone can be asymptomatic yet still spread it.  Think about that new case where the man visited a relative at that notorious nursing home in Washington, then flew home before he showed symptoms.  He was in an aircraft for over 5 hours, and he is now quite ill.  Did he spread it to the other passengers and the flight crew?  In addition, there are now reported cases of people recovering fully from this virus and then catching again more than two weeks later.  So, I'm pretty much blown away by the potential of this thing, which makes me question how much of my own paranoid speculative thoughts I should commit to writing.  Paranoid?  Me?  Really?  Yes.  After my daughter visited me yesterday, I wiped down everything she touched with disinfectant, threw my clothes into the washing machine, and showered.  So, yes, let's say that the uncertainly makes me rather uneasy.  [Alcohol.  Yes, all you have to do is blend 2 parts of alcohol with 1 part of aloe vera gel to make your own hand sanitizer.]  After this thing becomes more defined, I will probably work on a revision.  Thank you for the encouragement, and thank you for the compliments, as well.  I showed your shout out to my daughter yesterday and she was deeply moved.