The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[LadyofArc]

Well, maybe they figure if they smell like that crap then nobody will want to be within six feet of them. Sounds like a good enough plan to me.

As I put it to some friends of mine "Lynx is not deodorant or antiperspirant - it's the Bean Boozled equivalent of good deodorant in that they're selling off the rejects."

I've been sensibly stocking up on a little extra whenever we go to the shops for one thing or another, but it's only like doubling up on certain items and adding 1-2 little things here or there that wouldn't be out of place in a normal shop (eg adding 2 bottles of dishwashing liquid instead of 1)

[Ironclad Alibi]

I just figured out why all these people are buying so much toilet paper.

Back during the US Civil War there were ships called cottonclads that were armored with bales of cotton.

So these toilet paper hoarders are building walls of toilet paper to block out the coronavirus.

[Android Kaeli]

My aunt is freaking out more than anyone else I know, to a point where that she doesn't want to go anywhere that's going to have more than one or two people near her. I guess it doesn't bother her when she goes out grocery shopping, so meh.

I don't know how Grocery Store is doing with anything, since I don't think it ran out of toilet paper or anything else everyone and their animals are buying. Sure doesn't seem like anyone in my area is taking it too seriously, then again I do live in a tourist town so people might not be panicking too much right now.

[Monterey Jack]

I was at work today to get my schedule, and the T.P. section was noticeably diminished, but far from empty.

[Trixie]

We're out of alcohol now, too. People are still coming in looking for hand sanitizer. I haven't checked the toilet paper. I'm running low myself but payday is still a few days away. This whole thing is making people more insane than normal.

[ladyjaneinmd]

Just saw a news story that Apple is telling 12,000 employees in Silicon Valley to work from home. Wish I could do that ... but it's kinda hard being a cashier from the other side of the city.

At my job site, we used to have 2 telework days a week, but the new commish has decided that 1 is sufficient. So, while the rest of the world is being told to telework more, we have all had to drive into the office for an extra day per week. There's a lot of grumbling (myself included).

My church has stopped shaking hands and hugging, which is fine by me. I always thought it was unwise during flu season anyway.

The stores look like a tornado came through. Pallets of water in the aisles. I was just picking up perishables. I'm stocked up with non-perishables for months. That's just normal for me.

[telecom_goddess]

My work says they are looking into possibly letting people work from home, and they say "if you don't feel well then stay home" But i'm a call center nobody so you can bet those don't apply to us. Stay in the open office plan, go ahead and hot desk, and share those headphones! Blech.

[NorthernZel]

No precautions have been made at my office yet, but since it's a small company with lots of space between our desks we're not that much at risk yet. I'd wish I had a small bottle of alcogel to use while commuting though, but people have been hoarding that so it's hard to get.

[Seanette]

I did manage to find alcohol wipes for my pet diabetic to use for his insulin shots. Hopefully the two nearly full large bottles of hand sanitizer we normally keep on hand anyway, plus my four or five remaining PocketBacs, will suffice.

At least at my call center, we have designated desks and headsets, with it clearly understood you do NOT use someone else's headset, even if you had to borrow their desk for the day. Bring your own or see a sup if yours has gone missing.

[MoonCat]

I've seen fewer than ten people wearing face masks, and one of them had it pulled down to her chin, exposing her nose and mouth, so she obviously wasn't that worried. A dude on the train today was wearing latex gloves.

The big supermarket that I usually buy groceries at is totally out of hand sanitizer, but I haven't looked at the dollar stores or drug stores. I think they were still stocked up on toilet paper but as I didn't need to buy any, I didn't really look.

While I am over 60, and either diabetic or pre-diabetic depending on which criteria you use, I am generally in good health. I had some sort of creeping crud back in December, for which the cough lasted WAY longer than ever before, but it's long gone, and there are no confirmed cases of the virus in my town.

That's about it. Oh, our governor has decided that the best way to deal with price gouging of hand sanitizer is for the state to produce its own, "official" brand, to be sold to schools and state agencies for now. He's also warning that if price gouging continues, he will make the stuff available elsewhere. It has a higher alcohol content even than Purell.

Other than that, it's business as usual. I go to work, stop at grocery or drug stores or the bank when I need to. Unless the company or the government orders mandatory quarantine, or I come down with it (knock wood), I will continue to do so.

[Trixie]

Somehow our industrial strength cleaner has gone missing. At least some of it. My coworkers have a tendency to take multiple cans while doing our regular cleaning. We are now out of anything to do with hand sanitizer but our toilet paper situation is okay. They're getting ready to reset the department so we have gaping holes that were there before all this started. Honestly, at this point I want to self-quarantine to get away from people talking about it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

When I went grocery shopping Saturday, the store was out of hand sanitizer, but had plenty of hand soap.

I already have plenty of hand sanitizer but don't want to dry out my hands too much.

[LadyofArc]

When I went grocery shopping Saturday, the store was out of hand sanitizer, but had plenty of hand soap.

I already have plenty of hand sanitizer but don't want to dry out my hands too much.

My work has moisturiser dispensers in the staff bathrooms for this exact reason. Tried one the other day though - big mistake. >_<

[notalwaysright]

Oh, our governor has decided that the best way to deal with price gouging of hand sanitizer is for the state to produce its own, "official" brand, to be sold to schools and state agencies for now. He's also warning that if price gouging continues, he will make the stuff available elsewhere. It has a higher alcohol content even than Purell.

I read in Japan if someone is caught reselling face masks for a profit they can be fined a lot (nearly $10k) or thrown in jail.

A lot of people at work are pretty much over talking about it, which is a lovely relief. Still, in the morning everyone airs all "news" they heard overnight. Half of it is from radio DJs who don't know what they're talking about. The thing that is irritating me is I keep getting emails and seeing banners on sites about the VIRUS. Stating how they are dealing with it. You know what? They're just cleaning slightly more than normal, they don't need to send this super serial (serious) message like they're closing stores or anything. Nobody is, so far. (I mean, not here, not stores. Schools are mostly closed though)

[Smapti]

The Store is now sold out of bleach. On the plus side, however, traffic is starting to get back to normal - yesterday was the first day since the nursing home outbreak when we didn't beat the sales projection by at least five digits.

Still no confirmed cases in this county, but there are several in the next county over and I suspect there are people in town who have it and don't know it yet. I'm not particularly concerned about catching it since I'm still young-ish and I have a robust immune system, but if I do, I have enough sick/vacation pay accumulated that I can stay home for awhile, and the state is offering paid medical leave and unemployment benefits to people whose jobs are affected by the virus.

As long as they don't do anything drastic like shut down the buses (which I rely on to get to/from work and around town since I don't have a car these days) I should be fine.