Getting Ready for a Pandemic: Household Checklist

A pandemic is not a single event you can see coming and shelter from. It is a stretch of weeks or months when an infection is spreading widely, when you may be asked to stay at home, and when the sensible household job is to be ready to look after yourself and your family without extra trips out. The good news is that the checklist is short, cheap and mostly things you already have.

Start with three things. Keep a small supply of prescription medicine and over-the-counter cold and flu remedies, not a stockpile¹. Write down your emergency contacts, anyone who might need checking on, and your regular medicines and doses³. And know the numbers: NHS 111 for advice when you are unsure, 999 for a life-threatening emergency⁴.

Everything else follows from those. The sections below set out the full checklist, then explain how long to stay home when you are infectious, who needs protecting, and when to pick up the phone.

Pandemic household checklist

Work through this list once, then check it at the start of each winter, when flu outbreaks often occur¹⁰. Each item is something you would be glad of if the household had to stay home for a week or two.

1. A written household plan. Record emergency contact details, anyone who might need checking on, your regular medication and doses, school pick-up arrangements and pet considerations³. Keep a copy in your emergency kit¹¹.
2. A small supply of prescription medicine. Enough to see you through a few days of not being able to get out, ordered in the normal way rather than in bulk¹.
3. Over-the-counter cold and flu remedies. To relieve symptoms while an infection runs its course¹².
4. Paracetamol or ibuprofen for children. For when a child is distressed or uncomfortable, with the packaging checked first¹⁴.
5. A first aid kit and a thermometer. Standard emergency kit items, so you can tell a fever from a chill¹⁵.
6. Long-life food, drinking water and toiletries. A small supply, plus anything babies, young children or pets need².
7. Tissues, soap and cleaning products. To trap germs, bin used tissues promptly and clean regularly touched surfaces¹⁶.
8. A working phone and charger. For NHS 111, for booking appointments and for keeping in touch with anyone isolating.
9. A note of who is at higher risk in your circle. So you know who to avoid visiting while you are infectious⁷.

Vaccines and medicines: keep a small supply, not a stockpile

The single most useful medicine habit is boring: keep your prescriptions running and have a few days' supply at home. Official advice is to stock up on any medication you may need¹⁷, and to keep a small supply of long-life food, drinking water, toiletries and prescription medicines at home². If you have babies, young children or pets, think about the additional supplies they need².

What you should not do is build a cupboard full of extras. NHS advice to patients during a medicines shortage is explicit: avoid stockpiling and ordering more than you need until your next prescription¹. The same guidance applies in ordinary times. Medicines go out of date, so do not overstock your medicine cabinet, and always follow the advice on the pack¹⁸. A stockpile is wasted money at best and a temptation to take the wrong thing at worst.

For everyday illness, a stock of over-the-counter cold and flu medication to relieve your symptoms is what official pandemic guidance suggests¹². Carry spare medication with you when you go out rather than relying on being home at the right time¹⁹.

If you are ever short of a medicine, do not simply stop taking it. The NHS advises that you do not stop a medicine without speaking to a healthcare professional, and do not stop medicines suddenly without advice¹⁸. For more on keeping supplies steady, see Keeping Enough Prescription Medicine at Home and Medicine Shortages: Why They Happen and What to Do.

Stay at home while you are infectious

The core instruction for any respiratory pandemic is the same: if you are ill, try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people²¹. For COVID-19, the NHS gives specific periods, counted from the day you took the test.

Children and young people tend to be infectious for less time, which is why their period is shorter⁷. The 10-day figure is separate: it is about protecting anyone more likely to get seriously ill from viruses, not about your own recovery⁷.

For flu, the timing is different because the illness behaves differently. You can spread flu even if you do not have symptoms, and you are more likely to spread it to others in the first 5 days after getting infected⁹. Flu is spread through coughing and sneezing and can live on hands and surfaces for 24 hours⁹. That makes handwashing and surface cleaning matter throughout, not just when someone is visibly ill.

Practical steps while you are infectious, from official prevention advice: wash your hands often with warm water and soap, use tissues to trap germs and bin them promptly, cough into your elbow, regularly clean touched surfaces, wear a face covering in crowded places or close contact, and let fresh air in when you have visitors¹⁶. If you have a cough, do not lie on your back; lie on your side or sit upright instead, and do not use a fan to cool your room as it may spread the virus⁶.

Who is at higher risk and how to protect them

Some people get much sicker from these infections than others. Knowing who they are in your own circle is what turns a general instruction into a plan.

For COVID-19, official guidance lists older adults, those with some long term conditions, and those who are pregnant, especially after 28 weeks¹⁶. Greater Manchester's pandemic guidance also names pregnant people, older adults and health and social care professionals as higher-risk groups¹². For flu, those more likely to become seriously ill include children under 6 months old, people aged over 65, pregnant women, and those with certain underlying health conditions⁹. Flu can be more serious for pregnant women, very young children and older people¹⁰.

The most protective single step is vaccination where it is offered. It is important to get the flu vaccine if you are advised to²². COVID-19 vaccination eligibility changed in the UK in autumn 2025, and the current offer is narrower than in earlier years; check Who Can Get a COVID-19 Vaccine Now? for the current position.

Beyond vaccination, protection is mostly about timing and distance:

• Keep the 10-day gap. After a positive test, try to wait 10 days before meeting anyone more likely to get seriously ill from viruses⁷.
• Test before visiting. If you are eligible for COVID-19 treatments, take a rapid lateral flow test as soon as you get symptoms⁶.
• Let fresh air in. Official prevention advice includes letting fresh air in when you have visitors¹⁶.
• Check on people without visiting. A phone call does the same job as a doorstep chat when you are infectious.

For more on shielding relatives, see People at Higher Risk in an Outbreak: Protecting Vulnerable Relatives.

When to call NHS 111, 999 or go to A&E

Most pandemic illness is managed at home. The skill is knowing when it is not.

Call 999 or go to A&E if you or a child seems very unwell, gets sudden chest pain, are so breathless you cannot say short sentences when resting, start coughing up blood, collapse, faint, or have a seizure or fit for the first time, or a rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it⁶. For flu, the same emergency list includes sudden chest pain, difficulty breathing and coughing up a lot of blood²⁰.

For everything else, NHS 111 is the front door. Use 111 if you think you need to go to A&E or another NHS urgent care service but are not sure which one is most appropriate or closest⁵. Depending on the information you provide, you might be advised to call 999 or go to A&E in an emergency⁵. People should still call 999 and go to A&E in an emergency, when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk⁴.

Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you are worried about symptoms, symptoms are getting worse or not getting better, there are other signs of illness such as a rash, loss of appetite or feeling weak, or a high temperature lasting 5 days or more or not coming down with paracetamol⁶. For a child, the thresholds are tighter: a child under 3 months old with a temperature of 38C or higher, or a child 3 to 6 months old with a temperature of 39C or higher, needs an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111⁶. Contact your GP if your child has persistent vomiting¹⁸.

Keeping the checklist ready through winter

Flu outbreaks often occur during the winter each year, and cold weather has a significant impact on the number of cases¹⁰. That makes late autumn the natural time to run through the list: check expiry dates on medicines, restock tissues and soap, confirm your repeat prescriptions are up to date, and re-read your household plan¹⁸.

Keep the plan somewhere you will find it in a hurry, and put a copy in your emergency kit¹¹. If someone in the household is at higher risk, note the 10-day rule somewhere visible so nobody forgets it in the relief of a negative-feeling day⁷.

Finally, know where the official advice lives. There are no COVID-19 restrictions in the UK, but COVID-19 is still detected in the population and new variants can emerge¹⁶. Advice can change with the variant and the season, so check the current position rather than relying on what you remember. The Health Emergencies section covers the wider picture, and Pandemics: How the UK Plans and What Households Should Do explains how official guidance is issued.