*Italy and Coronavirus - READ IT*

[atlanta_man]

Getting to be major pollen/allergy season here in S. TX. Everytime we get an eye itch or sneeze... we think the virus may have got us.

Two weeks in and the grocery store stocks are very low still and lines long to get in. Placed a curb-side delivery order today for pick up, two weeks from now.

How much can folks hoard ?

 

[Desmond]

Getting to be major pollen/allergy season here in S. TX. Everytime we get an eye itch or sneeze... we think the virus may have got us.

Two weeks in and the grocery store stocks are very low still and lines long to get in. Placed a curb-side delivery order today for pick up, two weeks from now.

How much can folks hoard ?

My mother tells me that back home in South Africa they are asking the rich not to buy all the stocks because the poor can't afford to buy for more than a few days at a time. In a country with 60% unemployment things are going to get really bad there.

 

[Replytoken]

We are in lockdown and the main problem for me is food shortages. The reason is panic buying. There has been a billion pounds (=$1.2billion) of extra food bought by people. As soon as items arrive at the supermarkets they are snapped up. The online delivery services for food have all pretty much collapsed - you can't order them at the moment. First the shortage was toilet rolls, then pasta and canned food, now it is also milk and vegatables and all kinds of things.

Tomorrow I'm getting up at 6am so I can drive to the supermarket and join a queue outside the supermarket at 7:30. The queue will start to move at 8am when it opens. Only a small number of people are allowed in at a time, so as one person leaves another is allowed in. Someone supervises the aisles to check everyone stays separated. I'm hoping to get milk and green vegetables and flour and a fish. One can only buy three of any one item.

I have been walking each day in the lovely weather, doing about 6 miles a day at a good speed up and downhill. I hope that keeping the heart and lungs healthy improves survival rate. I keep to places where there are almost no people but do see them sometimes.

You might want to buy some eggs if you can. I read an article today that said there is now a run on eggs and that the wholesale price has jumped 180% since the beginning of March. What are people going to do with all of these eggs and toilet paper? On second thought, I do not want to know.

Stay safe,

--Ken

 

[Mike Buckley]

if they already have it the next person they pass it on to, whose kid just ran up to the bench and touched it, may be unaware.

My wife and I discussed that situation during supper. We tend to think most people are motivated to protect themselves more than others. So, if they're unwilling to act in a way that protects themselves, they probably will be even more unwilling to act in a way that protects others.

However, some of us think the opposite way. My wife and I would feel bad if we contracted the virus but we'd feel even worse if we caused someone else to contract it.

 

[Palouse]

However, some of us think the opposite way. My wife and I would feel bad if we contracted the virus but we'd feel even worse if we caused someone else to contract it.

Interesting, we had exactly the same conversation this evening at dinner.

 

[rick_reno]

eggs - Mari was at the store (Super 1) a few days sgo to get some eggs. she got near where the eggs were and some guy had a cart half full of eggs. There were none left. I have no idea what these people are doing with that many eggs, maybe they’ve got some kind of egg ritual going on. We’ve got lots of toilet paper, over a year ago she signed up with some kind of service from Amazon where they ship her stuff on a schedule she set up. They just sent 27 rolls. I haven’t been in a store in over a month, but am thinking I could hang around outside and trade toilet paper for eggs. I thought the hoarding thing would run its course and people would run out of money, hasn’t happened yet.

 

[Desmond]

Over here there is a limit of 2 per customer of any package.

 

[Phil K]

You might want to buy some eggs if you can. I read an article today that said there is now a run on eggs and that the wholesale price has jumped 180% since the beginning of March. What are people going to do with all of these eggs and toilet paper? On second thought, I do not want to know.

Stay safe,

--Ken

My wife and I discussed that situation during supper. We tend to think most people are motivated to protect themselves more than others. So, if they're unwilling to act in a way that protects themselves, they probably will be even more unwilling to act in a way that protects others.

However, some of us think the opposite way. My wife and I would feel bad if we contracted the virus but we'd feel even worse if we caused someone else to contract it.

Great mines think alike.

We advice people to change their mindset. Instead of thinking how not to get infected, think like you have already been infected and tried your best not to spread to others.

 

[Desmond]

Great minds think alike.
We advise people to change their mindset. Instead of thinking how not to get infected, think like you have already been infected and tried your best not to spread to others.

That is what the new Zealand government told everyone when the lockdown started. Imagine you have it and behave accordingly to prevent spreading it.

 

[italy74]

Just to add weird stuff to the weird stuff this year already brought, today - March 26th, it's SNOWING.
We had NO snow, not an inch, in the whole winter.

 

[Phil K]

Weird. And a few days ago, a friend in Ethiopia told me that it snowed!

 

[Growltiger]

You might want to buy some eggs if you can. I read an article today that said there is now a run on eggs and that the wholesale price has jumped 180% since the beginning of March. What are people going to do with all of these eggs and toilet paper? On second thought, I do not want to know.

Stay safe,

--Ken

I got 12 eggs! And a fish!
There is not yet a shortage of chocolate.
What has completely vanished everywhere is yeast (for making bread).
I was in full protective gear (see photo earlier) and no one seemed surprised.

 

[Kry27]

We see people wasting more protective masks to go shopping, here, and shake heads regularly...
Everything's got 2 sides...

 

[drr1531]

...What has completely vanished everywhere is yeast (for making bread)...

Luckily when all this started we had a few small packs which I'm stretching out by making sponges(aka no-knead dough). Very little yeast is necessary. One quarter to one half teaspoon for 3-4 cups of flour. With just two of us in the house a loaf last us 2-3 days. When the yeast runs out I guess we'll be down to some variety of flat bread.

 

[dburanich]

eggs - Mari was at the store (Super 1) a few days sgo to get some eggs. she got near where the eggs were and some guy had a cart half full of eggs. There were none left. I have no idea what these people are doing with that many eggs, maybe they’ve got some kind of egg ritual going on. We’ve got lots of toilet paper, over a year ago she signed up with some kind of service from Amazon where they ship her stuff on a schedule she set up. They just sent 27 rolls. I haven’t been in a store in over a month, but am thinking I could hang around outside and trade toilet paper for eggs. I thought the hoarding thing would run its course and people would run out of money, hasn’t happened yet.

A few Amazon workers around the country have now tested positive. It was inevitable.
Do you do anything special once you do receive your delivered order?
I have been bringing the package to my garage and immediately wash my hands thoroughly.
I will then let it stay there for at least three days. In looking at the data for how long the virus can survive on cardboard and paper the magic number seems to be three days.
If the product inside is a plastic container or metal I'll wipe it down with a sanitizing wipe.
A little bit of overkill. Maybe. My wife and I are both high risk.

 

[rick_reno]

I leave the packages on the porch for a couple of days. it’s still below freezing here. My hope is if any virus is on them the cold might kill it. I haven’t seen any information on how it does in cold temperatures. I open them out there wearing surgical gloves and bring stuff inside after wiping them down, most of what comes here is inside some plastic wrap in the Amazon box. This might be overkill, but we are both in the high risk category. No one tested in the county I live in (Bonner County) has tested positive, close to 100 people tested so far.

 

[drr1531]

A few Amazon workers around the country have now tested positive. It was inevitable.
Do you do anything special once you do receive your delivered order?
I have been bringing the package to my garage and immediately wash my hands thoroughly.
I will then let it stay there for at least three days. In looking at the data for how long the virus can survive on cardboard and paper the magic number seems to be three days.
If the product inside is a plastic container or metal I'll wipe it down with a sanitizing wipe.
A little bit of overkill. Maybe. My wife and I are both high risk.

We've been doing the same since this thing started. As a matter of fact for all physical mail it's not a bad idea to treat it the same way. No telling where it's been, who has coughed on it, etc. My wife and I are of an age to be at the threshold of the high risk category. But we're both in good physical health so aren't concerned that catching it is a death sentence. On the other hand we both had a bad case of the flu (this year's B variety) and have no desire to repeat anything similar.

Now that a significant amount of testing is being done in the US it is obvious that Covid is wide spread here. That's a bad news/good news story. The bad news is that the chance of exposure is much higher than many thought. The good news is that the percentage of people requiring hospitalization is looking much lower than some of the data available to-date has made it appear. It looks like we may be headed down the path of the "herd immunity" solution whether we want to or not.

 

[McQ]

My situation is similar and is probably even more remote. Odds are that I'll see a Moose before I see another person besides my wife.

I worry about our kids though. All live in heavily populated cities. Boston, Providence, and Boise. So far they're following all the directives but it has to be tough when you're packed in so tight.

Bill, I can empathize. Three of my sons live in areas where the virus is hitting hard (NYC, and near Seattle). Even though I'm in an age range which is more likely to be in greater relative danger, my wife and I can only think of the "kids" right now. And there's nothing we can do to help them. So we hope for the best, do the right things, and we'll get through this. Support one another. That's what we can do.

Also, I'm very envious of you being able to see a moose, period, let alone before seeing another human being!

 

[Mike Buckley]

Do you do anything special once you do receive your delivered order?

My wife said she is going to spray delivered boxes with Lysol but we haven't received any deliveries since she made that decision. She handles all the mail and is not doing anything different with that.

We really don't need to worry about the virus on surfaces so long as we regularly wash our hands and don't touch our face. It's easy to wash hands. It's not nearly as easy to remember not to touch our face.

 

[menbrial]

I leave the packages on the porch for a couple of days. it’s still below freezing here. My hope is if any virus is on them the cold might kill it. I haven’t seen any information on how it does in cold temperatures. I open them out there wearing surgical gloves and bring stuff inside after wiping them down, most of what comes here is inside some plastic wrap in the Amazon box. This might be overkill, but we are both in the high risk category. No one tested in the county I live in (Bonner County) has tested positive, close to 100 people tested so far.

The virus does very well in cold temp ...its all over the place here and we have had nights a 20 below since beginning of march