Coronavirus prep

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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,887 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    My sister had worked at Lowe's for over 5 years until she got fired this past summer. She took a job with Krogers, which now may be seen as a blessing in disguise - Krogers is considered essential, so her job should be safe. Lowe's, on the other hand, would likely have laid her off.

    Does Lowes not count as essential? What happens if there’s a wiring issue or the water heater breaks or the door falls off the hinges? I can think of about fifteen things that would make it impossible to keep sheltering in place that could go wrong with no hardware store.
    Here's what I found:

    From HuffPost: While the list may vary according to local concerns and the nature of a given event, disaster or pandemic, here is a general idea of what’s considered “essential” in emergencies, according to various governments, including San Francisco, Miami, New York state and Miami-Dade County:

    • Gas stations, auto supply stores, auto repair shops and related facilities

    • Pharmacies

    • Grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks and convenience stores

    • Liquor stores

    • Restaurants (only for delivery, takeout and drive-thru)

    • Hardware stores and plumbers

    • Contractors and other tradesmen, appliance repair personnel

    • Exterminators and other service providers

    • Landscape and pool care businesses, including residential landscape and pool care

    • Construction sites and engineering and architecture firms

    • Banks and related financial institutions including insurance and accounting services

    • Phone and computer sellers

    • Community benefit organizations on a case-by-case basis

    • Laundromats, dry cleaners and laundry service providers

    • Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics and healthcare operations including research and laboratory services, medical wholesale and distribution, and dentists

    • Businesses that provide shelter and/or social services

    • Newspapers, television, radio and other media outlets

    • Businesses offering mailing and shipping services, including post office boxes

    • Airlines, taxis and other private transportation providers

    • Home-based care for seniors, adults or children

    • Assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers and senior facilities

    • Pet supply stores

    • Veterinary offices

    • Police stations

    • Fire stations

    • Building code enforcement

    • Jails

    • Courts

    • Garbage/sanitation and recycling services

    • Public transportation (Muni, BART, subways)

    • Utilities (water, power and gas, telecommunications)

    • Certain city, county, state and federal offices

    • Funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries

    • Maintenance staff, cleaners, janitors and doormen

    • Manufacturing including food processing, chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, paper products, safety and sanitary products
    https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/what-are-essential-services-jobs-185047320.html

    That's a longer list than we used to have (before the curfew was announced, now it's even shorter). I'm curious why liquor stores are considered essential.

    I cannot understand why alcohol stores would be considered essential either, but I have to admit, I haven't wanted a drink for as long as I can remember, as much as I do now.
    A lot of those places I wouldn't consider essential but you can always dig further and reach for reasons why a certain place should remain open. :(

    And I kind of agree with the poster who mentioned isolation being an all or nothing action. There are still too many gaps if we're talking isolation, too many places where people are not taking this seriously. Too many what-if's and not enough information. Many people are still trying to live their normal daily routines and are late in adjusting their thinking to this new way of living. :(

    Has Snowflake shared how Italy has locked down their public services and which ones remain accessible? As well as any other places that have become more stringent with isolating, such as NYC or California, etc.? I'm sorry if I missed it already, I either skipped the info unintentionally(there's been a LOT) or forgot.

    Vets are considered essential but there again, a pet care place 15 minutes away, had a client who was sick, and later in the day, confirmed positive. They had to contact all who were exposed. :( I called my vet yesterday, they've cancelled all non-emergency visits and will take it week by week. I asked about the flea meds.( prescription only)and they've been taking people's orders, placing them in a box outside their door.

    So, yes, steps are definitely being taken to decrease exposure but it definitely leaves me feeling like there are still way too many gaps. :(


    They had a story on the news here recently about a vet clinic where the humans are instructed to drive to the back of the building and wait in their cars for a gloved worker to come out and take the pet patient from the car. The humans never enter the clinic.

    There was also a story about a priest hearing confession sitting on a chair out in the church parking lot, and people drive up and stay in their cars (looked like a greater distance than your typical fast-food drive through, and those are still open).

    Our vet clinic went to that procedure a week or so ago.

    Until yesterday Catholic churches here were open for private prayer (during certain hours, anyway) and some form of reconciliation (I did not check how they were handling that) even though we had no public masses (but streamed masses were encouraged), but since we got a statewide "stay at home/shelter in place" order the churches here are no longer open (archdiocese's interpretation of the order), and they are working out the details as to how to handle reconciliation. Weddings, baptisms, and funerals are postponed, but for extreme circumstances baptisms (vs. the public celebration).
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,818 Member
    One of the churches here was going to have services this morning in the Drive-in theater that still exists about 20 miles north of us.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,723 Member
    SisterSue, you get a 10++ for your very thoughtful action of offering freebies to those who need it!!

    I've stuck with my usual once a week shopping, am a little ahead on a couple things, mainly for my dogs. :blush: But am finding stores have little to none of: paper products, cleaners, and bread. I haven't been able to get one loaf of bread in 10 days now. Not even frozen bread dough. I'll have to resort to homemade but I remember trying that a couple times, years and years ago. :(
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited March 2020
    I was just reading that we as a nation, need to stop the virus (not just flatten the curve) by totally shutting everything down.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    I was just reading that we as a nation, need to stop the virus (not just flatten the curve) by totally shutting everything down.

    Unfortunately most of us aren't self sufficient enough, for that to occur & the death toll to not exceed that, of this virus alone.
  • lkpducky
    lkpducky Posts: 18,602 Member
    edited March 2020
    Diatonic12 wrote: »
    We have very limited medical facilities. They're telling everyone that unnecessary elective surgeries will be put on hold. Older folkaronies are pulling their dirt bikes out of their barns, getting back upon horses and doing things they haven't done in years. Falling off and breaking bones. Ayup.We must all use our heads besides something to part our ears with. I saw a senior whizzing by on his dirt bike last night. I covered my eyes and held my breath.
    Fear, stress and anxiety makes people do some reckless things. They're not thinking straight. Snowmobiles, horses, moto-bikes and bicycles. We all need to think these things through so we don't put more stress on our medical systems. That is all. <3
    I am stealing that expression.
  • JRsLateInLifeMom
    JRsLateInLifeMom Posts: 2,275 Member
    Emergency services would be open. Grocery online only maybe curb side still of course workers keep working inside. Shipping companies open. Everything else closed by what I understand.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    Unfortunately, the economic and psychological consequences of such a complete shut down would likely cause more deaths than the virus.

    You're correct. I saw via a YouTube video of Reddit, that there're laid off employees calling into the suicide prevention hotlines.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,588 Member
    My sister had worked at Lowe's for over 5 years until she got fired this past summer. She took a job with Krogers, which now may be seen as a blessing in disguise - Krogers is considered essential, so her job should be safe. Lowe's, on the other hand, would likely have laid her off.

    Does Lowes not count as essential? What happens if there’s a wiring issue or the water heater breaks or the door falls off the hinges? I can think of about fifteen things that would make it impossible to keep sheltering in place that could go wrong with no hardware store.

    I don't know about Lowes but in my neighborhood Facebook group people were disgusted at how many people were buying plants at one of the local stores. I've been starting a ton of old seeds and need more potting soil, I'm so tempted to go buy some to plant more seeds but between herbs, heirloom tomatoes, and cucumbers I really don't have the room and will already be giving away a lot. I'm higher risk too because of health problems so I should keep my rear at home anyhow, the grocery store was more than enough.

    Speaking of the grocery stores my stores were out of the expected, what surprised me was the $5 plastic bins of spring greens/spinach were gone and packaged salad mixes were gone. One store didn't have any yogurt under $10 and the other had a little and the only white meat was chicken legs which I don't eat. I think the neighborhood wild turkeys may be looked at in a new way!
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,215 Member
    I wish that people that thinks that the present health situation is not a big deal or that they are immune because they are young and healthy, read this posting.

    Emma, a 12-year-old girl, is "fighting for her life" in an Atlanta hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, according to her cousin.
    Justin Anthony told CNN that Emma was diagnosed with pneumonia on March 15 and tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night. As of Saturday, she was on a ventilator and is currently in stable condition, Anthony said.
    Emma had no pre-existing conditions. She has not traveled recently and it's unknown how she contracted the virus, according to Anthony.
    Children's Healthcare of Atlanta-Scottish Rite Hospital confirmed that a current patient tested positive for Covid-19, though it declined to go into details."

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/22/us/georgia-coronavirus-girl-hospitalized/index.html
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,010 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    A coworker in her late 60s asked me a question that I honestly don't know the answer to. "Since I'm in a high risk group, am I just supposed to stay quarantined for a year? Until they find a consistently effective treatment or a vaccine? Not hug my grandkids? Not celebrate holidays with family? Not go anywhere there might be a crowd?"

    All I could think to tell her is to do it for the time being to allow the pros to learn more about the virus, and that every day she can maintain it increases what they know, but I could tell it sounded as empty to her as it did to me.

    This is what they're telling us, so see if it sounds good to you as a response. Right now isolation will slow down the rate of infection. If a senior goes to the hospital when the doctors are exhausted and the hospital is overcrowded--your chances of recovery are less. If they can slow things down and eventually you get it, you'll be treated with everything they've got. We just had a 95 year old woman that recovered and they were interviewing her. So, it's not a death sentence, by any means. We just want to give people like her a fighting chance. If we all do this and give the scientists a breathing space, we'll come out of it. But the population has to be really behind this.

    Thank you :heart:
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,395 Member
    @snowflake954 thank you
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,887 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This looks to be a reasonably well-researched article about food safety (with reference to recent coronavirus research, handling takeout for consumers and providers, groceries, etc. ). Caveat: I'm not an authority, so I'm not even remotely in a position to critique his thinking, but feel like there are reasonable signs he's done his homework.

    https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

    Agreed that it seems like a good piece, and I think he's a responsible writer in general from past experience with him.

    One benefit of the stay at home thing here is that there's really no reason for many people to be out in their cars, and so I could easily run in the streets around my neighborhood should there be more people on the sidewalks than I've noticed, and we can all easily avoid each other.

    The ghost town feel continues to be really weird, though. Although my neighborhood streets are pretty quiet in general, the one I'm on is ordinarily used as a feeder to some other streets, so usually has some amount of car traffic, and has almost none at all today. More striking, I'm quiet close to a busy north/south street (it's between me and an area I like to run in) that currently seems to have almost nothing other than its bus route (public transit is continuing for those reliant on it).

    WF/amazon prime delivery did seem to be up and running here today.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,010 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This looks to be a reasonably well-researched article about food safety (with reference to recent coronavirus research, handling takeout for consumers and providers, groceries, etc. ). Caveat: I'm not an authority, so I'm not even remotely in a position to critique his thinking, but feel like there are reasonable signs he's done his homework.

    https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

    Agreed! This is very much in line with what I've heard from doctors and public health officials, and is a really good summary I think
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    My sister had worked at Lowe's for over 5 years until she got fired this past summer. She took a job with Krogers, which now may be seen as a blessing in disguise - Krogers is considered essential, so her job should be safe. Lowe's, on the other hand, would likely have laid her off.

    Does Lowes not count as essential? What happens if there’s a wiring issue or the water heater breaks or the door falls off the hinges? I can think of about fifteen things that would make it impossible to keep sheltering in place that could go wrong with no hardware store.
    Here's what I found:

    From HuffPost: While the list may vary according to local concerns and the nature of a given event, disaster or pandemic, here is a general idea of what’s considered “essential” in emergencies, according to various governments, including San Francisco, Miami, New York state and Miami-Dade County:

    • Gas stations, auto supply stores, auto repair shops and related facilities

    • Pharmacies

    • Grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks and convenience stores

    • Liquor stores

    • Restaurants (only for delivery, takeout and drive-thru)

    • Hardware stores and plumbers

    • Contractors and other tradesmen, appliance repair personnel

    • Exterminators and other service providers

    • Landscape and pool care businesses, including residential landscape and pool care

    • Construction sites and engineering and architecture firms

    • Banks and related financial institutions including insurance and accounting services

    • Phone and computer sellers

    • Community benefit organizations on a case-by-case basis

    • Laundromats, dry cleaners and laundry service providers

    • Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics and healthcare operations including research and laboratory services, medical wholesale and distribution, and dentists

    • Businesses that provide shelter and/or social services

    • Newspapers, television, radio and other media outlets

    • Businesses offering mailing and shipping services, including post office boxes

    • Airlines, taxis and other private transportation providers

    • Home-based care for seniors, adults or children

    • Assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers and senior facilities

    • Pet supply stores

    • Veterinary offices

    • Police stations

    • Fire stations

    • Building code enforcement

    • Jails

    • Courts

    • Garbage/sanitation and recycling services

    • Public transportation (Muni, BART, subways)

    • Utilities (water, power and gas, telecommunications)

    • Certain city, county, state and federal offices

    • Funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries

    • Maintenance staff, cleaners, janitors and doormen

    • Manufacturing including food processing, chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, paper products, safety and sanitary products
    https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/what-are-essential-services-jobs-185047320.html

    Landscape and pool care? :/

    I don't know about pool care issues, but unmown lots can become havens for rodents. Also, these are outdoor jobs with plenty of room for social distancing, and generally easily done without any contact with the residents.

    I have a pool. If they aren't kept up or if equipment goes down, they can quickly become cesspools. Other than opening and closing and equipment repair (unless pretty minor), I clean and do all of the chem work on my pool, but a lot of people do hire that out.