This just in---a friend just told me he was going in to a local sporting goods store and there was a LINE of people buying guns. Ugh. What fear is driving this?? (Nobody's gonna take my TP from me, man!)
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This just in---a friend just told me he was going in to a local sporting goods store and there was a LINE of people buying guns. Ugh. What fear is driving this?? (Nobody's gonna take my TP from me, man!)
Gun shop owners are quoted to the effect that there has been a large uptick in sales to Asian Americans … http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-wo...241164136.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
Made our last grocery run for a while this morning. Trader Joe's was packed and out of all frozen vegetables, rice, beans and toilet paper. The Costco next door had a line of cars out to the street so we skipped that. Hit another grocery and they were fairly well stocked and not crowded. Feeling very fortunate to have that task out of the way for a while. So weird to see people with masks on though.
I have not changed my behavior for coronavirus in terms of shopping. We are returning to VT today. I don't expect crazy long lines in our little stores. DH and I typically are the type that say, "Why is there no milk and bread in the store? Oh, yeah, we're supposedly getting a blizzard." Maybe I'm stupid, but you guys know me by now--I do not have a very large "security gland" as Dave Ramsey calls it. My operating principle is "I'll get by."
Two people from here are on their honeymoon in Hawaii and tested positive for the virus. So now they are being moved to an appropriate location and have to stay for at least 14 more days. They are now in contact with everyone they had at the wedding, etc. for contact tracing. They thought they just had the flu.
Attachment 3136
Many of you have seen this chart, but I’m putting it up because I think it is a great visual story of where we as a country could be.Red hump =bad, blue hump =manageable..
Those who continue on as usual , not tamping down their social movement, will push us into the red hump.
This is a time for individual responsibility to lead the way, and every citizen needs to act in a responsible way. I don’t need Trump, Nanny Gubmnt at local or wide level, or the CDC to tell me to wash my hands and avoid any nonessential social interaction. It is amazing to me that people are not understanding “nonessential. “
This morning our community garden meeting was canceled, after much discussion and whining.My notoriously self-centered neighbor who I’ve known for decades and who always makes a decision from the center of his selfishness is so very sad. Awwwwwww, he has to make a tiny sacrifice in his life!
Each of us has to figure out what is essential versus frivolous travel within our communities. I know that many people have an essential role to play in our society that requires they be out and about. That is not me.I hope those who do not have essential roles will not be swayed by their feelings, but will instead make thoughtful fact based decisions about moving through society for the next few weeks.
I'm taken aback by those who are just now figuring out that they might have to lay in some supplies. I started gathering wipes, alcohol, gloves, etc. a month ago--I have a pretty active "security gland," I guess. My Kindle is fairly bursting and I have plenty of food. And coffee.
The chart is maybe all we are going do and it will make things better but it's already going to be really bad probably. Because the things government should do have been derailed by bad public policy (mostly the Trump admin), they can't prevent spread, they can't quarantine because no testing etc. etc., they can't even test people getting off the cruise ships that had corona - literally, there are just letting them out into the community corona or not (not that there isn't corona in the community but that's just increasing the spread). Government plus individual action (not one or the other) could have prevented the most death, but government led by the Trump administration failed, so all we may have is individual action and it won't be as successful as both.
From what I can tell--contrary to Trump's pronouncements--there are still few tests available. Health care workers are still begging for them. This is (literally) sickening. If we don't understand where the threat is greatest, and who is already affected, we're trying to respond blindly.
Part of the problem is deciding when to self quarantine depending on how bad it is where you live. No one wants to stay home for months.
He is the ultimate denier >:( I guess by building up supplies in Jan and Feb it would have brought Covid-19 to shore. See how his prevention strategy worked for us?Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
The governor of CA just this week said they were sent tests without all the necessary parts. Do I believe him? Well I don't think anyone was excited about that governor election and only reluctantly voted if they did, but yes I do. And the Trump administration? I don't believe at all.
I got my state auto inspection a month early in case that is impacted. I also checked a couple dozen books out of the library.
I would venture it isn't just one, but several.Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
Fear that panic is going to become more widespread, and people are going to start getting lawless (looting etc. like the Rodney King riots where you had to defend your store/property/life).
Tax refund time, where a lot of paycheck to paycheck buyers, typically buy (then sell months later when in a financial hardship).
Fear about the Democrats all saying they are going to take your guns/ammo.
Some stores getting out of selling guns, and people go looking for sales, closeouts etc. (like they did when Walmart stopped carrying ammo)
AKA the usual suspects.
I don't know about US residents from other states, but the 14 cruise ship passengers that are residents of Wisconsin are being picked up and driven home by members of the WI National Guard. Governor Evers said the Guard will be driving state-owned vehicles, unarmed. All Guard members assigned to this mission are volunteers.Quote:
Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
None of the passengers tested positive, all are asymptomatic. When they arrive in Wisconsin, they will be greeted by Department of Health Services personnel, then transported to their homes for a 14-day home quarantine.
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)?Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
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
Yes I posted about the St. Louis man whose daughter came back from Italy, got tested for coronavirus, told to stay in, but he and other daughter and wife what about their usual business In attending a father daughter dance at a tony private school.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
Here’s what’s fun about that guy: he is the perfect lightening rod for distain. He is a middle aged educated well-off white man from Ladue who is an executive at Monsanto.
Can we all see the trigger words for Identity politics? I highlighted them in case some could not. I am happy that the heat went toward him and we didn’t have to play race politics as is the usual thing in St. Louis. We are not supposed to participate in public shaming until, of course, we find the right story.Personally, I don’t see how a little pubic shaming hurts if it illustrates desirable behavior.
Steve, I absolutely agree that any attempt to ration products on the shelves in the grocery store is ridiculous. I am actually happy that people are running around today to the grocery store and the drugstore getting appropriate supplies. A friend stopped by to visit this morning and he said our grocery store has no bread no chicken on the shelves. I went to a nearby grocery store later that had everything on the shelves, so supplies depend on the store.
And I do think the government —of course!—should be suggesting appropriate behavior because so many people look to nanny G to do that. It is fine, but it is also sad.
But then I have to think about my own situation which is very very simple. I sit at home and peruse the Internet. So many people came to a realization just yesterday, people in my immediate circle, that hey this is a serious deal and We need to step up to take action. I’m glad they are getting there but they were working at their jobs taking care of their children you know living a more complicated life than I live, so the full impact of this Didnt hit them earlier.
I think most people are doing the best they can in a really disorienting situation. We were just at the grocery and all the milk was gone, in our largest grocery in town. All the toilet paper was gone yesterday and today in three stores. There were limits on items that were no longer available, anyway. All the flour was gone. So people are trying their best to think of how to feed their families for a month if all the stores close as quickly and unexpectedly as the schools and the library and my husband's doctor did.
A lot of these survival skills have been forgotten, or no longer taught, like do I buy canned milk so that I can bake? etc.
As to ammo, I'm not prepared to shoot someone over my supplies so I'm not going there. But I know my neighbors have guns and would use them on someone who came to take their supplies. They are mostly ex-military and have a "don't mess with me" attitude. To each his own.
As to people who got sick unexpectedly with a disease they had never heard of--well my heart goes out to them. What a terrible thing, and I wish we would minimize some of the inevitable scapegoating that is starting to happen. The first case in Maine was id'ed as a middle aged woman who had recently traveled abroad. Class privilege etc. comes to mind. Turns out she was a Navy reservist on Navy manuevers.
I say we stop blaming them and work on keeping as many folks safe as possible and try to remember that they are doing the best they can, even if it in hindsight is clear to us that they did something that they should not have.
And calling people stupid because they want to buy toilet paper--well, I'd rather stop judging and try to keep a helpful, positive mindset.
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.
They are not closed here, but I think the feeling is that things are being closed unexpectedly and without notice, and people want a few weeks to a month of food.
That is what I think is happening, anyway.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
Good post Steve.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
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.
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
It is a horrible feeling.
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.
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.
I actually agree with stores limiting the purchase of products at some reasonable quantity. They do it for "doorbusters" on Black Fridays. During regular sales, they make you buy one item at its regular price before you get the next one half-off. (Want four items? Fine, but two are regular price.) Stores can establish the terms under which customers do business with them.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
So stores can limit the quantity of high-demand items purchased, letting more customers have a chance to buy them. I wish stores didn't have to limit product purchases, but apparently there are enough people out there whose better natures do not tend toward fairness that the rules get imposed (the stores also have a self-interest in keeping more customers happy, too). That's their bureaucracy.
DW has been involved in administering her county's plan for pandemics in her department. Among the very first rules is to not rush to the local big-box store or supermarket since so many other people will be there buying stuff, increasing their exposure to the very illness everyone is trying to avoid.Quote:
Originally Posted by jp1
When I picked up my items on Friday, I purposely went at off-hours and avoided bigger stores, partly to improve social distance and partly because news and social-media posts documented the runs on lots of food items (and the long lines of people and carts right up next to each other). I had no problem moving around the stores and getting almost all I wanted. If I get stir-crazy in the house over the next few days, though, I can think of a couple of stores near here that might still have some. It would be an interesting bet to place (since I don't have to win it).
I would rather purchase limits than price gouging. My supermarket has kept some water in stock by increasing the price 50%.
Can someone here give me insight as to why people are buying tons of bottled water?
There isn't a lot of reason to think tap water won't work. However maybe some just got to thinking about emergencies in general and were like "I don't have water for an earthquake! AHHH!". Even though an earthquake (hurricane, tornado) in most places is not the present crisis.
I admit I did a little panic buying Friday (and before then stocked up for a few weeks prior, but more panic on Friday - succumbing to it - empty shelves messes with one's head). I went to less crowded places including the most expensive grocery in town, but honestly since panic set in there are no "off hours" if you work. Friday late at night used to be one but it's all anyone wants to do anymore is grocery shop :~) (of course it's all one is allowed to do pretty much). Even though the virus might last awhile, I don't think the panic shopping will continue that much longer though unless it becomes completely self-reinforcing.
Now if I was just shopping for me, going forward I wouldn't shop more than once a week, to limit being out and about. But I said I'd shop for my mom so it may end up being be more (well my risk is less than hers).
Last week a national quilter held two lectures in Ocala, Fl. An acquaintance who went said the SRO crowd of 500+ women were jammed in each day. She laughed telling me how funny the lecturer was, saying not to spit on or lick anybody. Ha ha. She accused several of us as being alarmists and repeating “fake news” because it’s just the flu.
A neighbor went to church where only about 400 of the usual 1200 people attended the 4pm Saturday service. She said the church must be losing so much money. Seriously that is what worries you.
Since China quarantined Hunan I did not understand why people didn’t realize what was coming. Disease does not respect race, political party, religion etc. it spreads and runs its course. We have too much air travel to contain it.
Here in Florida I fear the worst. Many who watch Fox News all day who dismissed any idea this could be a problem because it was a hoax to take Trump down. A state where floating Petri dish cruise ships dock in multiple ports and disembark , theme parks are packed with many thousands daily, and lots of old people with medical issues.
IL, some of us have nasty tasting tap water, or unsafe water. Think Flint, Michigan.
Hay House is offering a free viewing of the docuseries Radical Remission; I just got an email inviting me to watch it. There is a trailer here and a place to sign up, if anyone is interested:
https://www.discover.hayhouse.com/radicalremission/
I think I am going to check it out!
:+1:Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
This has been my thought for the last 2-3 weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by jp1
Our governor announced that virtually all the major ski resorts would be shut down for at least a week. Best I can tell from the news, the hotels and other amenities that are still open would be ok, but all the ski lift operations would shut down. It's near the end of the season for many anyway, but others often stay open for as long as there is snow.
I picked up tax returns from my CPA a couple of days ago and before I knew it I was shaking the guy's hand. It's a hard habit to break.