Expert Disaster Preppers Explain How to Ride Out the Coronavirus Pandemic

What to learn, what to buy, and what to prioritize.

Long lines outside grocery stores. Aisles stripped of canned food, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. A fast-moving pandemic disease that, as of last week, was infecting more than 30,000 people every day.

Just a month ago, such a situation was unimaginable for most of us. But for disaster preppers, it’s precisely the scenario they’re determined to be ready for.

“I’m from a very old Appalachian family. Even before the word ‘prepper’ was a term, we were always putting back stuff and being ready in case we couldn’t go to the store,” says Samantha Biggers, who hardly fits the stereotype seen in TV shows like Doomsday Preppers. Biggers is a tattooed, 36-year-old farmer in North Carolina who brews her own beer and shears her own sheep. That’s a far cry from a wild-eyed paramilitary man living off-grid in a bunker designed to weather an EMP blast.

In a world where most of us take a safety net for granted, the idea that we might have to be ready for the worst is a reality-distorting, anxiety-inducing mental exercise. And it’s become all too real as the novel coronavirus spreads worldwide and we are suddenly forced to confront the reality of being locked down with limited access to food, medicine, and supplies.

For guidance in this time of uncertainty, we spoke with five expert preppers about what they’re doing to ride out the pandemic, how they’ll be ready for whatever comes next—and how you can be too.

Read the full article by Andrew Zaleski on Popular Mechanic's website here.