I don’t know about you, but the Kung Flu seems a little unreal and real at the same time. I mean, on the one hand all the media are talking about corpses littering hospital hallways, government continuity plans, cordoning off neighborhoods, etc…very dramatic stuff. But on the other hand I look outside my window and…traffic continues to roll by, the lights are on, people bicycle along the sidewalk, etc….but then I go to the supermarket and see empty aisles and purchase limits, my classes are shifted to online, and restaurants are closed….but my mailman delivers my mail, the gas stations are open, the toilets still flush. It’s like a mixture of messages. Its almost like theres not enough crazy stuff happening to push me into panic mode, but there’s not enough normal stuff to keep me from worrying. It’s a very in-between kinda thing.
One problem I anticipate is remaining consistent and vigilant for the unpredictable length of this crisis. As I said, there’s enough ‘normal’ going on right now that it’s a bit hard to immerse myself in a ‘conserve’ mindset. At the same time there’s enough crazy going on to instill anxiety and dread in me that I should be ‘doing something’. And without that very obvious in-your-face threat, it becomes a bit tough to tread lightly on the Pop Tarts, rice, and bleach.
I suppose part of it is my locale. Folks in the big cities, I suspect, see it a bit more on the ‘panic’ or weird side than we do here in flyover country. Perhaps thats the only thing they’ve got going for them…the situation is such that there is no ambiguity, no half-measures.
The key to succeeding at any endeavour is persistence and discipline. I need to stick to the mindset of ‘London during the blitz’ and not let the lack of blatantly obvious dire threat lull me into a state of complacency (or worse – waste).
But…still got plenty of TP.
More paranoia on my part. Yesterday morning, stood in line at Wal-Mart waiting to see if toilet paper was available (two females in household – it goes fast !). It was and after leaving what I purchased in vehicle to go back for my wife, I found myself looking to see if anyone was checking for locked cars.
Like you, my Daughter will be on line college courses next week, but that was how she was attending school. I’m betting more than a few colleges will increase on-line courses as the student’s realize how much is saved. May become a wave of the future.
Agree 100%. Same situation here in central Ohio.
I’m not one of those people who thinks this is a complete hoax. I definitely think
that this is being used for some nefarious purposes that we can’t completely see…………. BUT……………….In a normal day at work we may put 2 to three crashing individuals on ventilators. Saturday we did 14 in just 8 hours……………Sunday was much slower…………………..maybe 4 that I heard called over the PA, but I was busy and may have missed some………………….Take that however you will, but as our routine caseload has dropped over the last few days people in my department are being moved to a hospital labor pool, and many of those people are administering virus testing to people in long lines of cars pulled up outside the hospital……………….they drive home, and the results of their test are called to them at home. One last thing………………..my patients have been getting more neurotic as last week wore one, by Sunday night they pretty much all seemed
crazy…………………………………That is all. Good luck.
I’m in a PA program, and they’re trying to switch my clinical rotations to online. I’m not sure how that’s going to work. Seems like this sickness is something we should be seeing, if we’re going to be the ones treating it in the future. Sketchy, sketchy.
I would continue caution regarding avoiding covid19 exposure, meaning disinfect everything from outside, avoid contact and wear a mask/exercise contact precautions if you do have to go out in public. A pathologist friend of mine is still recommending these steps and it sounds sensible to me.
I’ve seen things all over the map that this is worse than they’re telling us, that it’s not nearly as bad as we think it is, it’s not as bad if you catch it as we used to think, it’s not transmitted by air etc… but then look at the videos out there of people stacked up in the hallways and on the floors of Spanish and Italian hospitals.
I think it makes sense to try not to catch it at this point, even if hardly anyone else I see seems concerned about it.
Commander:
It is almost a relief to see that the American press are repeating each peice of B.S. as if it’s true, and ignoring signs of normality –
I thought it was just the British press doing it…
Truth is not being allowed to interfere with a good story!
I think the thing that makes me uneasy is the gov response. Seems like everything they want to do is just take powers and rights from us under the guise of protecting us. Well, the economy also makes me tic. Something big is happening but the virus gets all the headlines. Like a “look, the Goodyear blimp over there!” while SHTF economically over here kills off business’ and jobs and gov kills off freedom and liberty. I guess it’s just the anticipation. Could this be the start of the end?
Same here, CU. We’re almost at a status of martial law with all the stay at home orders mayors claiming confiscation powers and such. And from all the CREDIBLE information I can gleen, the economic disruption is going to swamp the problems the virus will cause. The power of the media truly amazes me. The libs were right to gain control of it.
Well said. My feelings exactly.
I can relate to the uncertainty. I have distinct layers to my food stores, for example. It’s not as clear as I would have thought to make decisions about whether to keep shopping for weekly food items, or shift to the next backup layer. One day at the store people seemed really on the edge. A week later people seemed cautious, but calmer. Good to know that if I decided to turn and leave that I have other options.
I’m with you on that feeling.
Drove to a little town 12 miles south of me at the county seat to go to the small IGA store there on a regular run for more meat and chicken to replace what I’ve used this month. It’s family owned and run and have the best meat department around here. It was very quiet with few customers. It was obvious though they had been experiencing above average volume in shopping but their meat dept was full and rapidly being restocked by the butchers / owners.
Purchased a big family pack of Choice Angus 16 oz New York Strips for $6.99 pd, large pack of inch thick pork loin chops @$2.99 pd, 4 pd pack of ground round @ $4.00 pd, 3 pounds of store cut bacon @$3.29 pd, 2 pounds of ground pork @$2.29 pd, 3 split chickens @.99c pound (I make a good smoked chicken), and 2 packs of sirloin @ $4.99 pd. No price markups and the only item with quantity limits was bread @ 2 per. They have local brown eggs I like so I got a dozen @ $1.29. In and out quick. Stopped by the local Jack’s drive through (no in store dining for a while) for the 2 sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit special 2 for $4.
A friend told me yesterday that the stores in my town were finally catching up to other areas in terms of being out of things – all the breads, meats, eggs, dairy, and TP / Household consumables were either gone or in short supply. Bound to happen I guess. The number of cases here in Bama went up over a hundred overnight but none in my county yet. Tic Toc – nothing else to do but go home, breakdown the meat into small freezer packs, and settle in again.
Stay Healthy All.
The thing is, what’s going to happen in 2 weeks or 2 months when people are still out of work and/or quarentined? People are scared now and largely compliant. When they can’t pay the bills or buy food, that’s going out the window. I believe right now as a preface of things to come, the relative calm before the storm. With the national guard being mobilized and rights being restricted left and right, I see the gov’t moving to anticipate chaos; getting ready for martial law if its needed. I think if you have a bit of normalcy now, you should enjoy it. It may not last very long at all.
Really quiet and calm here in Eau Claire, WI. Like spooky levels of quiet and calm. But, I much prefer the quiet and calm to the other side of that coin.
I grew up in and lived most of my life in the Pacific NW and the Inner Mountain West. I’ve lived in Wisconsin for about 5 years now and I’m continually reminded of how people here do a much better job of working together and getting along than people do out west. I’ve seen many examples of this over the last couple of weeks.
Interesting in my neck of the woods, stores limiting everything, no more “family pack sizes”, even Kleenex sold one box at a time (limit 1 natch).
Well stocked, but trying to limit my interactions with the great, unwashed masses so not going crazy on the food intake.
If what we’re being told is true, most of us gonna get it anyway.
Per CZ’s recent post…
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/costco-hoarders-discover-they-cant-return-toilet-paper
Idiots…
Haven’t been into town now for some time. Things seem manageable, then, as someone remarked above, you see the news videos of people prostrate in the corridors of European hospitals. It’s not on national news, but you can find local news clips from around the country indicating a rise in crime. New York is releasing prisoners from Rikers. Taken all together, it’s enough to make anyone uneasy no matter how much the talking heads sing the “all’s well” song from Gulliver’s Travels.
Nothing with a 3% mortality rate should cause anyone to PANIC! If you are in an “at risk” group – you may want to stay isolated for a while. Getting the virus does not mean you get to park yourself in the local hospital for two weeks. It sure seems the media is doing everything they can to foment panic, for this I’m very frustrated.
Be aware, be considerate, be calm. I really think history will view this as a giant hiccup. The difference is people here will be telling the story about how we weathered the storm while “other people” panicked and had fist fights over a package of toilet paper.
We’ll get through it!
rumor control reports a car jacking at the local Costco. Two guys waited for the victim to load stuff in their pick up truck then took the vehicle with the store items at gunpoint.
Can’t find any news reports to verify, maybe they are trying to keep it quiet to not spread panic.
“Can’t find any news reports to verify, maybe they are trying to keep it quiet to not spread panic”
Or its just that a rumor!!!
So, questions to you, Jimbo.
Where did this alleged car jacking happen? We’re a nation of 340 million, narrow it down a little. Car jackings happen everyday in this country even outside of the current situation.
If it did occur, what information do you have they were after his supplies?
Where did you hear it?
Thanks
Wow, thanks for the steam.
OK, March 20th Costco at 6255 E. Grant Rd. Tucson, AZ at about 2pm. My co-worker’s wife and daughter both work there and were informed by their fellow employees and manager.
The two LEO’s at the front door on Sunday 3/22 when I was waiting in line would not confirm or deny. The other two Costco’s in town had no reports of LEO’s manning the front door that weekend so that seems inconsistent if it was just a rumor.
I know not how damaging this virus is to the population. The damage to the U.S. economy is staggering. Besides the multiple trillions lost in the stock markets we’ve lost at least 815.4 billion dollars of the gross domestic product of the U.S. Ulterior motives or not real damage is happening to our civilization.