Conavirus......

[iris lilies]

But are the stores actually closed anywhere in the world? My understanding it is one of the few things open when they shut down Italy: grocery stores.

It smells of panic, it's true one could be home sick for awhile and not leave the house.

If one plans to hide out for a several months and not grocery shop and is stocking up NOW, it strikes me as counterproductive, as the virus is out there already, and the stores being so extra crowded is probably not going to help anything (I'm not saying don't eat, just it's crowds, it's a risk). And at this point it's the hoarding of toilet paper that is going to lead to people not being able to get toilet paper, though yes I expect that situation to resolve and more TP to be on the way eventually.

I agree that it “smells of panic” but I do not think it actually IS panic. The store rushing activity is probably a little overkill. But we don’t really know and that’s OK.

[CathyA]

Weren't you the person who posted about that family in which the quarantined husband and daughter escaped to a father-daughter dance and the wife went shopping (or something like that)?

I agree that it is time for individual responsibility to lead the way. But responsibility to the collective is not ingrained in the American psyche and it's probably been a couple of generations since most people even have had to flex that muscle. If it requires a governor or an agency, the job of which is to safeguard the country, to spell out specifically behaviors that people either cannot or will not observe for themselves, then so be it. What's the old saying about someone's rights ending where someone else's nose begins?

I don't believe bureaucracy is the natural state of things. Why should grocery stores have to limit purchases of hand sanitizer well beyond what any human could use in the space of a few weeks? Can't people regulate that for themselves? Why do not people recognize that they can infect others with COVID-19 even if they personally are not experiencing symptoms? It seems to go beyond giving people the facts. Bureaucracy forms because people either fail to use good sense or feel any sense of fairness is appropriate. Unfortunate, but there it is. jmho

Good post Steve.

[catherine]

I agree with Steve. My son texted us saying that on his shopping trip today he took the last two quarts of milk. When he stepped away for a moment he caught a woman talking the milk out of his cart. He then passed a women who had taken every last box of pasta. This is the mentality that freaks me out.

[JaneV2.0]

Where were these people a month ago, when we first started hearing about the virus and its spread? They could just drop casually into any store and grab a modest amount of non-perishables without difficulty then. And don't people keep a reasonable amount of say, rice and beans, around--just in case?

[iris lilies]

Where were these people a month ago, when we first started hearing about the virus and its spread? They could just drop casually into any store and grab a modest amount of non-perishables without difficulty then. And don't people keep a reasonable amount of say, rice and beans, around--just in case?

We grow our own beans. I had been consciously using them up over the past six months because I didn’t want to move them all to Hermann along with all the other food stuff that we will inevitably have to move.However we don’t grow our own rice —yet. In our 1 acre farmette there is no water puddle big enough to act as a paddy, but knowing DH he figure out how to grow a little rice ha ha.

[pinkytoe]

I think the only clear thing right now is that none of us know how this will unfold. I must admit I am having some hopefully irrational fears that I might not see my kids and grandkids for a long time. Life plans deferred...but today I planted seedlings for the window sill in hope that spring will normalize some. If you haven't read it yet, check out Maureed Dowd's column in the NY Times - Plagued by the President.

[Rogar]

I've been buying extras for a few weeks, and I'm probably out to a month's supply of most everything. In order to keep that month buffer I'll probably have to brave the vampires for more shopping in a couple of weeks. All of my store's shelves have been thin on stock of staples, but I've not seen any totally empty except for hand sanitizer.

[Tybee]

I must admit I am having some hopefully irrational fears that I might not see my kids and grandkids for a long time. Life plans deferred..

I am sorry you are going through this. I am, too, along with fact that my parents are in nursing home and no visitors are allowed in, no one, so I may not be able to see them again.
It is a horrible feeling.

[JaneV2.0]

I see a lot of places are emphasizing take out, delivery, and pick up. A local pizza chain stresses that when you pay up front, your pizza will be delivered to your porch and left there, that the tip will be included in the tab, and that the driver will wash their hands before and after delivery. An introvert's dream. I imagine grocery pickup will be more widely offered, as well. Two out of three of the stores I frequent here offer it.

[jp1]

The irony to me is that going to crowded places with lots of people is a bad idea. So what are all these people doing? Going to buy food and toilet paper at crowded places with lots of people.

I’m not particularly surprised by this though. Look at all the panic shopping people do every time a snowstorm is predicted, even though the likelihood of being homebound from a snowstorm for more than 48 hours is pretty unlikely unless one lives in the far boonies.