Please explain this to me

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My mother has turned into a shopaholic. Since yesterday she has gone to at least 4 more stores. I tried to enlist my father in getting her to stay put but he said she has cabin fever and needs to get out. This mask thing has gotten people totally out of control. Before the mask mandate more people were staying home, now it is a free-for-all. The stores are more crowded than before including with many elderly. I guess it is a distraction from the anxiety of possibly dying to go places and do things.

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well what did she used to do, if it's socialize with the neighbors or something, maybe it would be better if she did that outside weather permitting and stood 6 (or 10 or 20 would be even better of course!) feet away or went to the park or something. Some risk maybe, but lower risk.

But I know my family (mom and immunocompromised sibling) were heading in this direction shopping more and more in pandemic, but I think that was mostly shortage fears since the height of it seemed to be reached in March before anyone was even wearing masks, and all my pleading "that virus is out there you know" did no good, they had to go to 4 stores a day. They might still but they hide it from me at this point as they laugh off my concern, I kind of don't want to know anymore since there is little I can do, but I think they have calmed down some on the shopping, as it was partly shortage fear driven. I ask what they want, they give me one or two things, and I think "you are making me go to the grocery for nothing at this point, as you are probably still going to go". I get the things, but it's a reason why I don't try to go every 2 weeks, I feel used.

I find the stores less crowded, people were panic buying early on period, and that was crowding everything like crazy. But I find the shoppers now frivolous, buying 3 or 10 items and stuff, look don't even tell me you are doing your weekly shopping at that point (much less 2 weeks or something), because I weekly shop and I know know you can't live on 10 items (yea sometimes I take out food, but that's maybe once a week at most and so no you can't live on 10 items! :~) ) You are just shopping for the heck of it. I pick one store a week and get a weeks worth of food.

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Originally Posted by LDAHL

One refreshing aspect of military service was when you asked that question, they could provide you with an estimate.

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I got tarred and feathered a few weeks back when we were preparing some models for resuming business in the County. Seems a spreadsheet that includes the statistical value of human life, along with demographic calculations for the population profile of the county, and then comparing the economic activity at risk is considered "insensitive".

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Originally Posted by LDAHL

I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but during my tenure as a civil servant, the “one death is too many” platitude/argument was something of a joke. A politician or citizen would resort to it whenever they lacked the evidence to prove a point. Not being responsible for allocating limited resources or setting priorities, it nevertheless makes you sound caring and foresighted.

I remember once that our Sheriff was making a pitch for (fairly expensive) horse patrols in our county parks. A board member asked him what the record of crime in the parks was. Rather than admit it was fairly minimal, we were treated to an extended rant of the even one would be too many variety.

The corollary was the “how many people have to die before you do something” gambit. It was often associated with what we called “grieving mother syndrome”. The basic format was high school kid gets drunk and kills self and others by crashing into a tree or rolling his car. The mother than decides the kid’s death was due to the road’s design rather than the dear departed’s blood alcohol content. Tearful phone calls, public hearings and letters to the editor ensue. In some cases a project is authorized that takes precedence over correcting a much more dangerous situation. It was common to ask questions like “how many people have to die before you change that light bulb? “

One refreshing aspect of military service was when you asked that question, they could provide you with an estimate.

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You cold hearted bastard you! ;)

One of many private thoughts I’ve had about the Covid epidemic is I am relieved that it is killing old people and not babies and children. The handwringing and hysteria would be several notches higher if the latter.

If we think “how many people have to DIE!!!???” is a clarion call to action, wait until we hear “How many CHILDREN have to DIE!!!???” Oy vey, no politician can surmount that one.

I too am glad it’s not killing babies and kids.

I have no special affection for babies and kids, they mean nothing more than any other person to me. Why should they?

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Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore

I have no special affection for babies and kids, they mean nothing more than any other person to me. Why should they?

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Babies and kids can be replaced using generally-unskilled labor.

Adults represent a substantial investment in education and training, and are expensive to replace.

Until they hit retirement, then onto the ice floe with them.

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Originally Posted by Yppej

In multiple news conference I have heard Donald Trump say even one death from covid is too much. So your approach of trying to save everyone no matter how high risk or the costs to everyone else is certainly not unique.

ETA Do you remember bubble boy, who couldn't risk bumping into hard surfaces or he would bleed to death? Maybe we should reconfigure our whole society because he would like to leave home. Maybe even in hot weather we should all walk around in thick uncomfortable quilted padding to protect him. We can't risk losing even one life, there is no cost/benefit analysis to be done.

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Weird and not accurate analogy. The whole society is not refigured just for one segment of it (as you keep insinuating). As you may have read or heard, even small children are now being infected by the virus as are all ages of people. The purpose is not to overload our few hospitals that are not equipped to handle the deluge. As far as I am concerned ... end of discussion. I truly don't care what you think.

ETA: You are the one siding with trump... "open everything up and save our economy". Doubt that that is going to work. Many will go on as they have now. That is, self distancing and going for groceries and necessities.

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Originally Posted by bae

Babies and kids can be replaced using generally-unskilled labor.

Adults represent a substantial investment in education and training, and are expensive to replace.

Until they hit retirement, then onto the ice floe with them.

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oh hell yes!

our own Jane pointed this out many years ago, and it makes me laugh in a rueful way: a truism of our biology is that post-menopausal women gain fat around our middle sections because the tribe won’t feed us in a famine, young moms and their progeny get the rations.

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Originally Posted by LDAHL

I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but during my tenure as a civil servant, the “one death is too many” platitude/argument was something of a joke. A politician or citizen would resort to it whenever they lacked the evidence to prove a point. Not being responsible for allocating limited resources or setting priorities, it nevertheless makes you sound caring and foresighted.

I remember once that our Sheriff was making a pitch for (fairly expensive) horse patrols in our county parks. A board member asked him what the record of crime in the parks was. Rather than admit it was fairly minimal, we were treated to an extended rant of the even one would be too many variety.

The corollary was the “how many people have to die before you do something” gambit. It was often associated with what we called “grieving mother syndrome”. The basic format was high school kid gets drunk and kills self and others by crashing into a tree or rolling his car. The mother than decides the kid’s death was due to the road’s design rather than the dear departed’s blood alcohol content. Tearful phone calls, public hearings and letters to the editor ensue. In some cases a project is authorized that takes precedence over correcting a much more dangerous situation. It was common to ask questions like “how many people have to die before you change that light bulb? “

One refreshing aspect of military service was when you asked that question, they could provide you with an estimate.

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I guess this is all true. But at some point the decision has to be made that a certain level of deaths is too many. Personally I'd say that 85,000 in two months is too many, especially when the projections are that by June 1 the number will likely have climbed to 3,000 per day. Especially when a competent early response, such as occurred in South Korea, could have prevented the need to shut everything down in the drastic way that we have had to do.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

oh hell yes!

our own Jane pointed this out many years ago, and it makes me laugh in a rueful way: a truism of our biology is that post-menopausal women gain fat around our middle sections because the tribe won’t feed us in a famine, young moms and their progeny get the rations.

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Fortunately, it's hard to find a convenient ice floe these days...