American Federation of Teachers: COVID-19 Planning Checklist For Individuals and Families

At Home:

• Store water, food, and other essentials. Prepare to get by for at least a week on what you have at home.

• Store medical and health supplies. Ask your healthcare provider for a prescription for an extra supply of your regular drugs. Keep health supplies and nonprescription drugs on hand.

• Make household emergency plans.

• Prepare for possible changes in healthcare. For example, medical advice and healthcare may be more difficult to obtain during a severe pandemic. There may not be enough medical supplies, healthcare provider, and hospital beds for all persons who are ill.

• Difficult decisions about who should receive medical care and how much treatment can be administered will be necessary. Talk about these possibilities with your family and loved ones.

• In a severe pandemic, you may be advised to stay away from others and from public places as much as possible. Plan to limit the number of trips you take to run errands.

• Think about how you would care for people in your family who have disabilities if support services are not available.

• Decide who will take care of children if schools are closed.

• Plan for possible limited access to your money; banks may curtail hours or not replenish ATMs if their employees are out sick. Keep some cash at home.

• Plan home learning and recreational activities and exercises your children can do at home. Have materials and books on hand.

EXAMPLES OF NONPERISHABLE FOOD

• Canned meats

• Canned beans, fruits, vegetables, soups

• Protein or fruit bars

• Dry cereal or granola

• Dried fruit

• Peanut butter and jelly

• Nuts and trail mix

• Crackers

• Comfort food, including cookies, candy, instant coffee, teabags

• Canned juices

• Bottled water

• Baby formula and baby food

At Work:

• Prepare to stay at home. Staying at home from work when you are sick is the most important thing you can do to protect others.

• Know policies. Ask your employer or union about sick leave and policies about absences, time off and telecommuting.

• Encourage planning. Every business, organization and agency should have a plan for making sure essential work can get done if large numbers of employees are absent for many months. You may be asked to perform duties that are not typically part of your job.

• Explore other ways to get your work done. Find ways to reduce personal contact, such as increased use of emails or phone conferences. Plan to work from home whenever possible.

In Your Community:

• We will need to pull together as communities during a pandemic. We will need to check on our neighbors and help people around us, especially if we experience major social and economic disruptions. This may be as simple as calling your neighbor from a “phone tree” list, or dropping off supplies on the doorstep of a homebound friend.

• Know your neighbors. Talk with family, friends and neighbors to make sure everyone is prepared. Be ready to help neighbors who are elderly or have special needs if services they depend on are not available.

• Know school policies. Become familiar with policies about illness and being absent. Be prepared for school closures.

• Volunteer with community groups. Assist with planning for emergency response to disasters and pandemics.