After all, just because COVID-19 may in fact end up contained doesn't mean you're not going to be in a serious earthquake next week or something. Having this stuff widely distributed greatly increases the resiliency of society against all sorts of issues, means you'll be one less person draining valuable resources in case of some disaster, etc. Being at least a bit prepped is the socially responsible thing to do.
Also, don't forget some of the specialized things for an extended in-home stay, which a lot of prep lists don't necessarily focus on (as a lot of them are assuming the problem is that you don't have a home anymore): Toilet paper, paper towels, salt & spices, etc. Anything you don't want to have to suddenly run out and get.
I don't know about surgical masks, but N95 respirators have been nearly totally sold out at retailers for a couple weeks.
I know there are questions abut the use of N95 respirators to prevent infection when used by nonprofessionals, but they seem more widely available to consumers (at hardware stores) compared to surgical masks, due to their use in construction.
What store was that? I just called my local Sherman Williams, and they're sold out. Was it a store that's little known to consumers?
Personally, I managed to buy about 40 3M respirators about two weeks ago (shipped most to relatives in China). I've been keeping an eye on the stock at Home Depot ever since during my normal shipping, and they're totally picked clean at this point.
Not a bad idea to stock up on rice and beans. The proteins in rice and beans are individually to incomplete but together are sufficient for long term survival, and they're cheap and last for years if kept in a cool damp pantry. On a developer's salary you really don't have an excuse not to spend a couple hundred dollars on months worth of emergency food that will keep you (and possibly your community) prepared for years.
Don't forget that such preparations are for any unforseeable future event. It's just good to do if you have the space and cash.
I whole-heartedly second this. I'm reluctant to describe myself as "a prepper" because some of the connotations of that term get pretty "out there" (see the "Doomsday Preppers" show for example), but a certain measure of preparedness is a Good Thing. And there are plenty of very realistic situations that could come to pass, where that preparedness would be beneficial, without reaching into the realm of EMP attacks, etc. Natural disasters of all sorts (growing up in the Southeast, hurricanes are something I've had quite a bit of experience with), pandemics, global supply chain disruptions (caused by any number of thins, possibly including the aforementioned pandemic) and so on, are all real things.
There's a good infographic of all reported Singapore cases in this article: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/coronavirus-c...
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~msantill/Mauricio_Santill...
While I don't necessarily disagree with the general philosophy, that probably translates into something like 50 gallons of water/person, or about 10 big jerry cans/water bottles which is a lot for most people to store along with everything else for a month.
That's just ~53-gallons each for my three person household.
It's $400 but seems like a reasonable investment in the case things go awry.
Even if you're near a river, having clean, treated water is still useful. It's one less activity you need to concern yourself with in the case of disaster. No need to go out and get water and treat it.
That said, I'm in a seismically active area, in a tsunami zone and pretty much surrounded by salt water so there is value in my situation
There are many long-term water storage solutions. The simplest is a large package of bottled water.
Also I highly recommended supplementing your water supply with a LifeStraw or similar device that can filter water.
https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP129-Filtration-Sque...
(FWIW I haven't used either.)
You are right the Sawyer is better in general.
But what you can do, if you live in an area where any source of freshwater (lake, creek, stream, river, pond, etc.) is available within a reasonable distance (a day's hike?) is learn how to purify water and stock up on the supplies necessary to do so. There are different ways to purify water, but one of the easiest and most effective is still good old fashioned boiling. So if you have a decent vessel for boiling water in, and a means of starting a fire, and some supply of flammable materials, you can boil quite a bit of water.
If you only live near a supply of salt water, or if you live near water sources that are especially dirty / polluted, distilling the water is a step beyond boiling. It's more complicated, slower, and requires more up front prep, but it's not completely outrageous to think of building / buying a distilling unit in advance of a possible failure of the public water system.
The downside of this, of course, is that it requires you have a good supply of firewood or other burnable material, and a place to light a fire where you won't kill yourself with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Chemical purification is another option... and in a pinch, you can get by with plain old (unscented) household bleach.
And, of course, as others have mentioned, there are filtration options. If you go this route, it might not hurt to pre-filter your water (depending on what state it's in) with plain cotton cloth, a coffee filter, etc., to help preserve the life of your filter. The idea is the prefilter step removes the bigger particulates so the "real" filter never sees them.
It will suck eating that everyday, but it will keep you alive.
And if you can't fit a months supply, at least try a weeks supply or more. A case of MREs and a large package of bottled water stashed away in the back of a closet will go a long way in a crisis.