The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[KuariKaydrith]

No confirmed cases where I am, but it's getting increasingly harder to find toilet paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels, and soap. I'm actually scoping out bidet attachments for my toilet, and am grateful that I stocked up during one of Bath & Body Works' big liquid hand soap sales not too long ago.

[NorthernZel]

So, my work has arranged that we will do partial telecommuting - we'll take shifts clocking in at the office in order to take phone calls. I've been given one day per week as I'm the only one using public transport and therefore more at risk of getting/passing the virus on.

Things may change though since the gub'mint is holding press conferences every 2 hours daily. We have informed our customers that we will try keeping operations running as long as we can.

[Mental_Mouse]

Here in Charlottesville, they cancelled the Virginia Festival of the Book. I understand why, but I'm bummed.

[notalwaysright]

Although my state has a lot of cases, I think we're over 300 now, my county still just has the one. I feel bad for parents. A lot of schools are cancelled, and the ones that aren't cancelled might be soon. Some parents would have issues paying for childcare or they'd have to stay home from work and then also have more money issues since they wouldn't be making any money. Not knowing from today to tomorrow is hard. Management went around asking the parents if they'd be able to come in or not if schools were all cancelled, just to get an idea of the staffing situation.

Anyone wanting to shoot a low budget film, go to Seattle right now... It's a ghost town. I have to say, I'll probably do a bit of (almost) panic shopping. Not crazy, just a few things that I wouldn't normally get. I literally had a dream about buying toilet paper, so I might give in and buy some assuming the store has any. I also need to go get quarters because I was thinking if something happened and the bank wasn't open, how would I do laundry? Would I have to go beg the property manager to give me quarters? Urg, I'm so done with this.

[EricKei]

One possibility on the water thing -- One list of "medical advice" regarding the virus has advised people to drink lots and lots of water (which IS a good idea), saying that doing so will force the virus down to your stomach, where it will, of course die off completely -- which is untrue. If you're infected, it's in plenty of places other than your mouth/throat. Specifically, this one also says to hold your breath for ten seconds to determine whether you're infected. Also, it purports to come from Stanford; it does not. Stanford has chimed in, saying (roughly) that there is some truth in some of the advice, but most of it is 100% pure bullshit.

[Buzzard]

Southern California music festivals, Stagecoach and Coachella, got moved from April to October, just to curb the spread. Last check, there's no cases in this (large) county, but... people come in from EVERYWHERE, and get packed in like sardines.

[Seanette]

Proof today you NEVER EVER travel with Tom Hanks.

I do hope that as many patients as possible, including Mr. Hanks and his wife, will be OK. By all accounts, he's a nice guy, just a bad luck magnet when traveling.

I did decide to take advice on another board and obtain more cat litter. Also developed a compulsion toward ramen, so several dozen packs of that came home (we do eat it anyway). Still gotta get DH to verify his supply of prescription meds.

Also just saw a notice in my email that my church is cancelling member gatherings, including Sunday services, until further notice because of this. We're being encouraged to do some sort of worship at home.

[Pixelated]

My Hometown now has one person (a physician, of all things ...) suspected of having the virus. He's in isolation and is awaiting test results.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie has tested positive for the virus; I believe he has not but is going into self-isolation for 2 weeks just to be on the safe side.

I was very VERY sick for three days ... not the virus but my Annual Winter Cold. I went back to work today. Was scheduled for a 4:30-8:30 shift. That's okay, I thought, I can handle a standard shift.

I got a frantic call, could I come in early. I ran a few errands on the way in so only got there an hour early. Still not bad, I thought -- a five-hour shift instead of a four-hour shift.

I was there until 11:30 p.m. It was a madhouse. We are totally out of toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, isopropyl alcohol, and gods know what else.

And I'm due back in for 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, which means leaving the house at 7:30 a.m.

On the bright side ... I got a $50 gift card from the supermarket for staying late (as did everyone who stayed late).

[Smapti]

Today was the worst yet at the Store. The governor has called for the cancellation of all gatherings larger than 250 people, and apparently the sensible reaction to that is "dogpile into an enclosed space with literally thousands of people already in it and stand in line for half an hour to buy toilet paper". We'd already made our sales projection for the day by the time I came in for my 2 PM shift, and we doubled it by the time I left. I was supposed to be working the dairy cooler, but I spent pretty much my entire shift in the checkstand while we gradually sold out of milk and eggs.

We have bottled water now, but the toilet paper was completely gone by the time I left.

[Marmalady]

The shelves in the store where I work are completely out of toilet paper, and people have now started stealing the rolls out of the customer toilets.

[Rosco the Iroc]

Parents in my Scout Troop freaked and we ended up canx the Red and White planned for Sat.
So we- troop leaders are having a unofficial emer meeting tonight with lots of "cure" Both corn and rye.
LOL

[Dreamstalker]

One case in my town, a parent at one of the schools. We're taking stock of what we have and just waiting to see if the town declares a lockdown.

The pasta and rice panic has hit my store; the vibe isn't near as weird as the grocery store here, but people are still emptying the shelves. Due to the situation in Italy, we can't get a lot of stuff and my concern is that our main warehouse will start clearing out what they're sitting on which means we might get shortdated or expired stuff. Two members of my team were let go; D and D2. Nobody was expecting the loss of D; he was a salaried manager and of all of them had the best head on his shoulders. He's staying through next week. D2 was fired immediately at the end of her shift yesterday; apparently she had more writeups than I knew about.

[Trixie]

I'm off today so I have no idea what I'll find when I go in tomorrow. Yesterday was crazy because of scheduling it was just a shift lead and I for 1 1/2 hours. I was the only front end person from 3. In that time I had nearly 100 customers. That's not normal. One bitch was getting pissy because we couldn't run over and do a passport photo for her. Hope it gets rejected 5 times and it costs her lots of money.

The schools here all have an extended spring break. Local events are cancelled. We're probably out of toilet paper by now. I have enough to last me awhile. Food on the other hand, I'll just try to buy stuff every day at work to stock up. Then pray someone sick doesn't come in to get the store closed and all of us quarantined.

[Ghel]

Here in Minnesota, we're up to a whole 14 cases. Our governor has declared a "peacetime emergency."

All the cases in the state are in the southern part of the state. And yet... Local high school sporting events have been canceled. A "home, sport, and travel" show scheduled for next weekend was canceled today. And the little assisted living place here in town is on "lockdown." It all seems overblown to me.

[Pixelated]

The shelves in the store where I work are completely out of toilet paper, and people have now started stealing the rolls out of the customer toilets.

I think I've mentioned before that our store has always had pump bottles of hand sanitizer at each register. B.C. (Before Coronavirus) staff often forgot they were there ... not so much now. So we want the bottles within each reach.

But we're now being warned to watch where we put them, as a couple of them have been swiped by customers strolling towards the exit doors ...