How will coronavirus affect hiking this year?

[Traffic Jam]

My company has sent everybody home for the foreseeable future. My new reality is working from the dining room table.

I have been stockpiling some food, looks like I may need to get more. Anybody's thoughts on impact to the food supply? If SHTF, are we still gonna be able to drive thru a McDonald's, or hit the grocery store?

I expect my reality is an extended stay at work in a hospital. Friday plans include prepping for work and storing essentials in my vehicle. I also wonder about the food situation and whether there will be enough to feed the staff and patients. But I’ll be ready for whatever happens.

[FromNH]

I have way too much backpacking food anyway and a whole forest behind my house but I do feel bad for people who are less fortunate. This can turn very bad very quickly. Most stores only have a couple of days worth of supplies and if no trucks can be loaded.....

[One Half]

I would encourage people to stock up on food and necessary supplies for a minimum of 30 days of staying home. We always have at least 30-60 days (and often more than that) of pretty much all necessities except fresh produce of course.

Keep your gas tanks full as well.

If you can work from home, do it.

Practice good personal hygiene habits - don't touch your face, use paper towels/napkins to open doors etc when going to public places, avoid large gatherings, etc.

Put off non-essential travel.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Well, with the European travel ban just ordered this evening that starts this Friday (no travel to and from Europe excluding the UK), any Europeans that planned a thru-hike who are not already here probably aren't coming until mid-April at the earliest.

[jurahd]

When it rains you want to be in the shelter, to get your stuff organized, platforms and tables are wonderful.
It’s the crowded sleeping conditions in the ‘bubble’.
Of course the the exercise is great. The hardest job you’ll ever have and that’s a great body to fight disease.
I’ve hiked just short of 4 thousand AT miles and now 70 years old would not join the young crowd at springer this spring. You can’t avoid sickness. Better section where people aren’t. Plenty of options. Once did southern mtns
In fall, saw nary a soul. Loner bliss. With good bug strategy and luck on the rain vermud is lovely next two months, whites before summer. Sweep out the empty shelters and enjoy your mountain home!

[Slo-go'en]

Well, with the European travel ban just ordered this evening that starts this Friday (no travel to and from Europe excluding the UK), any Europeans that planned a thru-hike who are not already here probably aren't coming until mid-April at the earliest.

A little late to be closing the barn door. It's here and largely undetected.

[jurahd]

Like most infectious disease a mild response confers immunity. Iran and Italy have close commerce with its source ...the wuhan flu will be arrested by warm weather.

[Leo L.]

Now as Europeans got locked out from US for the next 30 days (and who knows what will come beyond that period of time) so at least there will be this amount of hikers less out there on the famous LD trails.
(Edit: Sorry, nonsense post this one. Didn't see that others had brought this up earlier).

Honestly, We're making up our mind if we could do some 2-3 days local hikes the next week and beyond, due to our young one having no school.
It's far better to do something than to hang around and catch cabin fever.

[4eyedbuzzard]

A little late to be closing the barn door. It's here and largely undetected.

Yeah, was just pointing out the "impact", albeit a small one from numbers of hikers on the trail. I feel sorry for any hikers whose plans will be affected. Given the mobility of modern society - millions of people travelling by air daily - I don't know that closing doors is even realistic. With a 5 day incubation period, stuff like this would likely spread globally before there's enough evidence to respond/close doors.

[Traillium]

Quite the transition in tone and especially in outlook in this thread since it started just a relatively short while ago!

I find it heartening that ‘my community’ is getting the seriousness of what we’re entering into.

I feel like reading up on the Noah story …


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[JNI64]

A little late to be closing the barn door. It's here and largely undetected.

I work for a school system in northern Virginia. The school system just south of us closed last week 100+ schools. I got a call this morning saying our schools are closed until next Friday the 20th. We have over 100 schools over 10,000 employees. They've been educating the teachers how to tela, teach from home. I'm night time essential emergency personnel for all schools. Well guess what I'm sick go figure huh, all the flu symptoms. I'm waiting for the drs office to open for appointment and advice. I don't get sick I don't even own a thermometer that's a question I have for the dr office do I go get one and risk infecting others or just come in? I'll be back with updates.

[Puddlefish]

When it rains you want to be in the shelter, to get your stuff organized, platforms and tables are wonderful.
It’s the crowded sleeping conditions in the ‘bubble’.
Of course the the exercise is great. The hardest job you’ll ever have and that’s a great body to fight disease.
I’ve hiked just short of 4 thousand AT miles and now 70 years old would not join the young crowd at springer this spring. You can’t avoid sickness. Better section where people aren’t. Plenty of options. Once did southern mtns
In fall, saw nary a soul. Loner bliss. With good bug strategy and luck on the rain vermud is lovely next two months, whites before summer. Sweep out the empty shelters and enjoy your mountain home!

Just as a heads up, this particular virus can live for days on certain surfaces in certain conditions. Warm damp conditions specifically, such as a shelter table/surface are far more likely to transmit the virus to you and your gear. It's not just a matter of avoiding people. Wash your hands when you've touched what people have touched recently. It can be spread pre-symptomatically, and symptomatically. So you can catch it from someone sick, even if they aren't actively coughing on you.

Sweeping shelters, should ideally be done by the first and last person each day, that cloud of dust and crumbs mixed with mouse poop can be a respiratory irritant, and Covid 19 is a virus that affects the respiratory system.

But yeah, I'm avoiding crowds as well. For that matter I'm going to avoid the AT this year, and stay on my rarely used local trails.

[chknfngrs]

Should not live in fear. Educate.

[AsoloBootsSuk]

...Well guess what I'm sick go figure huh, all the flu symptoms. I'm waiting for the drs office to open for appointment and advice. I don't get sick I don't even own a thermometer that's a question I have for the dr office do I go get one and risk infecting others or just come in? I'll be back with updates.

lol, I have a scratchy throat, I'm never sick either. Hoping it's just hypochondriasis. Good luck to you!

[TexasBob]

Quite the transition in tone and especially in outlook in this thread since it started just a relatively short while ago!..........

Not just on this thread. I go to the grocery store most days and yesterday for the first time when I was there I noticed that probably 50% of people had toilet paper in the basket, noticeably less pasta and sauce, ramen, canned foods, bottled water on the shelves not to mention Clorox was sold out and toilet was almost gone. I saw one lady with 2 gallons of Clorox, that is enough to make 100 gallons of disinfectant at the rates recommended by CDC for coronavirus. She could disinfect a football stadium with all that. A bit of panic buying setting in.

[chknfngrs]

Plus we we backpackers know how to wipe without TP, don’t we?

[Five Tango]

Plus we we backpackers know how to wipe without TP, don’t we?

On the bright side-maybe now we can re-purpose all that junk mail!

[Slo-go'en]

On the bright side-maybe now we can re-purpose all that junk mail!

Just not the glossy stuff

[George]

and we used to worry about internet viruses

[Puddlefish]

Just not the glossy stuff

I'm a volunteer driver for the elderly. A 95 year old woman was telling me the story of life before indoor plumbing. She and her cousin used to tear out the soft pages of the Sears catalog and leave the glossy pages for the adults.