Personal Pandemic Preparedness

By Alvin Ånestrand @ 2025-07-30T20:06 (+5)

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on pandemic preparedness. I tried to find instructions online on what to consider when acquiring protective equipment and couldn't find any. So, I spent a day researching equipment standards and conversing with Claude, and made a guide myself. If you know of a better guide, or have any remarks on this one, please comment.

Putting my money where my mouth is, I will follow this guide myself, and recommend you do the same. And please recommend others to prepare as well.

What is this guide?

This guide is for preparing personal protective equipment (PPE) for pandemic diseases: what you need and what standards to look for.

This does not cover general disaster preparedness. There is already an unnumerable number of such guides on the internet, like the American Red Cross guide, or the more comprehensive Stanford Household Preparedness Guide. There are also guides specifically for pandemic preparedness, like this one. Please refer to these for more general advice.

Protective Equipment

The following setup should be prepared for each person in your household. Total cost is around $120-180. The examples are for quick ordering from Amazon.

• Respiratory protection: Choose NIOSH approved equipment only. An N95 mask/respirator keeps out at least 95% of airborne particles, while a P100 mask/respirator keeps out at least 99.8%. KN95 is the Chinese equivalent of N95 but are not regulated quite as heavily as N95 equipment, so get N95s instead if possible. Ensure you can find a NIOSH approval number and verify approval here. Options:
  • 20-30 N95 masks (like these): this is the cheapest option but doesn’t provide maximum protection.
  • A reusable P100 respirator with 20-30 filter replacements (like this one): this offers the highest protection, and since you only need to replace the filters, it might be cheaper in the long run. Consider full-face options for maximum protection.
• Eye protection: Some airborne agents can infect you through your eyes. Acquire safety goggles or glasses with ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 certification that seal around the eyes, preferably with indirect ventilation and anti-fog coating (like these goggles). Ensure that they fit over prescription glasses, if necessary.
• Hand/surface protection: Ensure that you are not transferring the pandemic agents on your hands, frequently used items, or high-touch surfaces.
  • 50+ powder-free nitrile gloves (like these): use in contact with people or objects likely to transfer the pandemic agent (like used face masks).
  • 70% - 85% alcohol hand sanitizer (like this one) and soap: use for regular cleaning. Sanitizers containing 60 to 95% alcohol are acceptable, though you should aim for around 80% ethanol or 75% isopropyl alcohol, because "these values lie in the middle of the acceptable range". Higher concentrations are actually less potent because the effectiveness is dependent on the presence of water.
  • Surface disinfectants for disinfecting high-touch surfaces (like doorknobs, light switches, counters, and bathroom surfaces), frequently used items, as well as reusable protection equipment between each use (such as your safety goggles). Preferably choose disinfectants that have been externally reviewed, such Lysol wipes and spray that are in EPA’s List N for disinfectants to use against the Coronavirus (so they probably work well against other pandemic agents too). Remember: Most disinfectants need 30 seconds to several minutes of wet contact time, and visibly dirty surfaces must be cleaned before disinfection.

• Body protection: You can also acquire a protective suit or gown (like this disposable isolation gown, verified by the FDA to meet AAMI level 4 standards). This is not usually necessary for protection against airborne diseases but is needed for protection against pathogens transmitted through body fluids. Wear this when in contact with potentially infected individuals, or handling objects that have been in contact with contaminated fluids.

  Check that the suit/gown is of appropriate standards for body fluid penetration resistance, which you can read about here. The US and EU usually use ASTM and ISO tests respectively. For appropriate protection, the equipment should be of AAMI level 4 (which relies on ASTM tests and is commonly used for gowns) or EN 14126 class 5 or 6 (which relies on ISO tests and is commonly used for coveralls).

Look out for red flags:

• Prices significantly below market rate
• No certification numbers visible (e.g. EPA numbers for disinfectants, or NIOSH approval numbers for masks and respirators)
• Sellers with recent creation dates or few reviews

General advice

The focus of this guide is the protective equipment, but I have a few words for general advice.

Mostly: use your common sense!

Don’t reuse disposable equipment. Wash your hands before and after touching respiratory equipment. Disinfect reusable equipment between uses. Follow the instructions that come with the equipment. Don't touch your mask or safety glasses with unwashed hands. Consider practicing with your equipment before you need it in an emergency.

Imagine your daily life during the pandemic. Do you have enough money saved up to last a while, in case you are unable to go to work? Could you work from home? How often would you need to go outside? Could you order food instead of visiting a store? Imagine the lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, but potentially much worse.

Also consider your sanitary habits. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds after going outside and before meals. I don't know exactly how often you should wipe surfaces like doorknobs or commonly used items, but you should set reminders to ensure that you remember to do it regularly.

There is certainly more to say for general advice. But you should probably listen to proper experts instead of me.

Anyway, good luck facing the next pandemic!

Context: I'm working on a forecast for how AIs will affect biosecurity risks, with focus on large-scale incidents (100,000 deaths or worse). The risk appears to be increasing dramatically over time, regarding both known and novel threats, with AIs providing expertise to bioterrorists as well as supporting the development and identification of dangerous pathogens. Please prepare accordingly.

When it's finished, I'll post the forecast here and on my blog: Forecasting AI Futures