Is there going to be a 'next pandemic'? You can almost count on it, even though years have passed since the last pandemic. Here are some clues about health-related disasters happening right now in 2026.

• Deadly fungus spreads in the United States.
• Bird flu cases raise odds of human spread.
• U.S. measles outbreak is the biggest in 25 years.
• Bird flu in milk?

A recently published book by Michael Osterholm called 'The Big One' validates that the world will be facing future health-related disasters and we need to learn how to better respond to these types of disasters. I was fortunate to work as a consultant with Mr. Osterholm pre-Covid19 during two pandemic related exercise scenarios in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. His guidance helped prepare the 17 hospitals in the Twin Cities and hundreds of exercise participants manage the three-day events named Snowball 1 and Snowball 2. These exercises involved every scenario from running out of hospital beds and opening the Minneapolis Convention Center as an alternative care site to managing the deaths of inflicted citizens. The simulated exercises were eye opening and definitely beneficial in preparing for the actual Covid-19 pandemic which came a few years later. Did you know that a pandemic death occurred every 33 seconds in the United States from the Covid-19 pandemic?

As a family (or couple) there are precautions and recommendations that if implemented, will help protect a family from illness and even death. Since limited personal interaction outside of the home will be recommended in the next disaster, the safety of your family can be increased by having a quarantine plan or shelter in place plan in place. To start with, use the CDC's (Center for Disease Control) recommendations of 8 essentials to stock up before and during a pandemic.

1. A no-touch trash can.
2. Bottled water.
3. Paper towels.
4. Tissues.
5. Hand soap.
6. Disinfectant wipes.
7. Hand sanitizer.
8. Face masks

FEMA has a brief guide that describes a simple 'Shelter-in-Place' for Pandemic.

At https://family-preparedness.com we have resources to help a family prepare their personal shelter-in-place plan. In addition to general information on creating a shelter-in-place plan located here https://family-preparedness.com/hide-shelter-in-place/, we also have a tiny course that provides step-by-step instructions on creating your family's personal shelter-in-place plan. It is only $27 for the tiny course and it can be used for other disasters such as power outages, tornadoes, hurricanes, and many of the potential 50 disaster types addressed on our website.

Bottom line is every family needs to have a shelter-in-place plan for the next upcoming disaster. It is the easiest family preparedness plan to prepare for (the other family preparedness plan is the evacuation plan) and is well worth the preparation for the safety and care of your family.