What was your COVID news for the day?

[Another Reader]

Yesterday I visited a local park. It was busy but not crowded. Other than some mothers letting the kids play together in one area, most people used the 6 foot rule except when passing each other for a few seconds on a path.

Today I walked in my neighborhood. Others were out but I had no problem honoring the 20 foot rule.

There is an open house across the street from me. I haven’t seen one car in the driveway yet. Not a one.

Auto Traffic remains down.

Somebody must be paying attention to the advice to not cluster together.

Not here. Stinson Beach and Point Reyes were packed today. Now closed to visitors...

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Marin-County-closes-all-of-its-parks-in-response-15149675.php

 

[ohyes]

Arkansas' governor said he expects the confirmed cases to peak here in 4-6 weeks.

 

[Freedom56]

Putin Releasing 500 lions to keep people indoors!

Some humor for today.

 

[Katsmeow]

When I went out yesterday (just for a drive with DH - we didn't stop anywhere) I wasn't surprised to see full grocery store parking lots. The two surprises though were full parking lots of Home Depot and Lowes and lots of people at the nail salons...

 

[USGrant1962]

Frankly I haven't been too impressed with CDC during this entire COVID outbreak.

And let me add WHO to that list..who's official reaction seems be to you all need to hurry and do something...accompanied by hand wringing and the impression that we're all going to die.

Or the FDA who stayed in business as usual mode for quite a while as this brewed up.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Took a drive today and very few people out. We picked up takeout from Outback and she said all but 3 servers were laid off. We tipped way more than normal. It actually made our lives feel more normal since we usually eat out twice a week. We walked our dogs but everyone kept a huge distance. I noticed that there weren’t anybody panhandling anymore.

 

[NW-Bound]

We went for our routine neighborhood walk. I saw a group of 4 bicyclist friends who sat in the front yard shooting the breeze. Their chair positions made a square, and 10 ft from each other.

On another street, a homeowner yelled "Hi" to her neighbor across the street, who said "Hi" back from his front door, then jokingly asked if that was far enough.

It looked like people took this seriously around here.

PS. I knew a couple in the bicyclist group, so stopped and chatted a bit with the group (while standing more than 10 ft away, of course). I mentioned the report that "community spread" was here already, even though we only had 104 cases in the state. They nodded, and knew about it.

 

[Alan]

We just got back to Yorkshire after 3 weeks in Edinburgh looking after my wife’s sister who has had open heart surgery. By the time she was strong enough to walk down the hill to the village centre social distancing was in place and the 2 coffee shops had closed. So, our daily routine of going to a coffee shop, and also eating breakfast or lunch out 2 or 3 times a week has been curtailed. We both got weighed today and my wife has lost 5lb while I have lost 10lb.

Lowest weight I have been since 2001!! Time to walk around to our local butcher and get some meat pies.

 

[MichaelB]

Good luck keeping the weight off.

 

[EastWest Gal]

News of this morning: Harvey Weinstein has COVID-19.

A close family member was raped and I suffered assaults from 15-21 for the crime of being a physically fit but small female.

I do not wish this man well.

 

[jollystomper]

Early this morning a neighbor contacted us. The local Costco where their daughter works was having an "employees only" shopping period this morning before store opening and asked if we needed anything. They were being thoughtful since we are in the "over 60" risk category. We appreciated the call but said we were fine. TP packages was rationed 1 per employee, but plenty of milk, eggs, rice, sugar, and yogurt.

 

[gwraigty]

Our local paper reported that after the governor issued his stay-at-home order yesterday to go into effect tonight through April 6th (I believe it'll be extended), another surge of panicked shoppers swarmed the grocery stores and gun shops, even though both of those are deemed essential businesses that will remain open. So much for any near term chance of the grocery stores being able to play catch up!

DH's employer is deemed to be an essential business, so everyone there can continue working until told otherwise. DH is still allowed to work in the building as of now, but that could be changed. The thermometers have come in, so the security company is now tasked with taking temps before letting anyone in the building. (I'll bet they never thought that would be part of the job description.) Some of their customers have closed and they do anticipate hits to business because of this.

DD is at work for the first time since last Tues. I anticipate she will text me at some point to tell me to pick her up early. She has been there 2 hours so far. DANG IT! Just as I finished typing that...she texted me. Oh well, off to get her.

 

[fh2000]

Early this morning a neighbor contacted us. The local Costco where their daughter works was having an "employees only" shopping period this morning before store opening and asked if we needed anything. They were being thoughtful since we are in the "over 60" risk category. We appreciated the call but said we were fine. TP packages was rationed 1 per employee, but plenty of milk, eggs, rice, sugar, and yogurt.

I called our local Costco. They are starting to have a 60+ hours on Tues/Thursday at 8:00AM. I plan to go wait in line at 7:00AM on Thursday. We are running low on fresh fruits and vegetables.

 

[aaronc879]

I called our local Costco. They are starting to have a 60+ hours on Tues/Thursday at 8:00AM. I plan to go wait in line at 7:00AM on Thursday. We are running low on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Waiting in line is one of the main things you shold be avoiding. That is too close to too many people. Shouldn't even be a consideration. Go there at 8:15 or go to a supermarket that may be less busy.

 

[Another Reader]

I called our local Costco. They are starting to have a 60+ hours on Tues/Thursday at 8:00AM. I plan to go wait in line at 7:00AM on Thursday. We are running low on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Good news!

I hope they implement that here.

 

[ivinsfan]

Our local paper reported that after the governor issued his stay-at-home order yesterday to go into effect tonight through April 6th (I believe it'll be extended), another surge of panicked shoppers swarmed the grocery stores and gun shops, even though both of those are deemed essential businesses that will remain open. So much for any near term chance of the grocery stores being able to play catch up!

DH's employer is deemed to be an essential business, so everyone there can continue working until told otherwise. DH is still allowed to work in the building as of now, but that could be changed. The thermometers have come in, so the security company is now tasked with taking temps before letting anyone in the building. (I'll bet they never thought that would be part of the job description.) Some of their customers have closed and they do anticipate hits to business because of this.

DD is at work for the first time since last Tues. I anticipate she will text me at some point to tell me to pick her up early. She has been there 2 hours so far. DANG IT! Just as I finished typing that...she texted me. Oh well, off to get her.

This is crap treatment by your DD employer and it needs to stop. That's unacceptable they can give her a minimum per shift let's say 4 hours or more or quit making her go out and possibly get exposed to the virus. She'll make more money if she just stays at home unemployed.,

 

[REWahoo]

Waiting in line is one of the main things you shold be avoiding. That is too close to too many people.

^ This

Plus, wandering the aisles of a grocery with a bunch of people of any age is something I'm trying to avioid.

Here is an example from this morning's local news for reinforcement:

County officials issued an alert Sunday night, advising people who were at the H-E-B Plus [grocery] in Schertz near the corner of Interstate 35 and FM 3009 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, March 16, that they may have been exposed to coronavirus.

DW and I agreed when the first local case showed up we would do our best to avoid all personal contact, including grocery stores. Haven't been inside one for almost two weeks. We will use curbside delivery for all our grocery needs even though we may have to order a week or more in advance to do so. That hasn't been the case so far as our closest Walmart (a Neighborhood Grocery) has next day pick up slots available, provided you place your order before 9 am the day prior.

 

[Gumby]

I called our local Costco. They are starting to have a 60+ hours on Tues/Thursday at 8:00AM. I plan to go wait in line at 7:00AM on Thursday. We are running low on fresh fruits and vegetables.

That was started here last week. My neighbor said there was a line at 6 am when the grocery opened to 60+. He came home and went back an hour later and the crowd was gone. They still had stock and he avoided the danger.

 

[Another Reader]

Details of the Federal Reserve's plan to support the economy released this morning.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200323b.htm

 

[Ready]

You can call Costco and ask them if there is a wait to get in before you head down. There is always a wait first thing in the morning because that is when they get their daily supply of essentials like paper towels, toilet paper, and disinfectant wipes. If you need those things you are pretty much going to have to go first thing in the morning. Otherwise, it’s best to wait until later in the day when things calm down.

So far I’ve avoided waiting in the lines. But I’m running low on paper towels and can’t find them anywhere else. I’m hoping the hoarding stops before I run out.

 

[sengsational]

The local media has proposed that our county heath officials have been withholding too much information about the details of the cases here, hiding behind HIPAA.

What I want to know are details about where and how the community spread is happening. It seems to me that this information is essential to 'flatten the curve', but these local health officials are being vague. I don't want to know who's sick, just anonymized information about where they've been and what they've done. Some people have probably been mixing with other people 20 times in the 4 to 8 days before symptom onset, but there are probably thoughtful people that have been at home with no contact except with one store or one event. If we knew what they did to contract the virus, everyone could avoid that activity.

Are there any personal anecdotes from people here concerning this 'very local information' (county heath authorities) about what locations and behaviors are likely to be risky? It seems like if your specific local health people are being more transparent than mine, I could use that information as a proxy.

 

[REWahoo]

Are there any personal anecdotes from people here concerning this 'very local information' (county heath authorities) about what locations and behaviors are likely to be risky? It seems like if your specific local health people are being more transparent than mine, I could use that information as a proxy.

See post #567 above.

 

[MichaelB]

Our local Costco has special hours for seniors, 10-8, Mon-Sun. All the times I've been there, there has never been less than 75% seniors. In this store, it's the younger folk needing a special time slot.

 

[ivinsfan]

The local media has proposed that our county heath officials have been withholding too much information about the details of the cases here, hiding behind HIPAA.

What I want to know are details about where and how the community spread is happening. It seems to me that this information is essential to 'flatten the curve', but these local health officials are being vague. I don't want to know who's sick, just anonymized information about where they've been and what they've done. Some people have probably been mixing with other people 20 times in the 4 to 8 days before symptom onset, but there are probably thoughtful people that have been at home with no contact except with one store or one event. If we knew what they did to contract the virus, everyone could avoid that activity.

Are there any personal anecdotes from people here concerning this 'very local information' (county heath authorities) about what locations and behaviors are likely to be risky? It seems like if your specific local health people are being more transparent than mine, I could use that information as a proxy.

That seems to vary by state for example our state has a category for medical personnel. the interesting news so far is that it looks like all infected providers had done personal travel.

 

[Alan]

Back home after 3 weeks near Edinburgh helping SIL recover from surgery.

Extremely quiet around town but no shortage of just about anything. We went to a pharmacy for some ordinary things and they had hand sanitizer and tylenol for sale, one bottle per customer, sold at the register. We also visited our local butcher for meat, eggs and meat pies. Stocked up with everything except chicken, which the lady in front of us wanted. When we left the butcher we saw that lady leaving our small local grocery store carrying a whole chicken so evidently no shortage of mass produced chicken.