Coronavirus prep
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Somewhat unrelated topic. Finally ventured to a larger grocery store this morning because my local small one often does not have what I need lately. Well, guess what, I think the large one was even worse. I had to make compromises, or leave without, 50% of my list. IMO anyone saying the grocery stores are not impacted lately, and thus we the customers, is not doing any grocery shopping themselves.
Probably depends on where you are. I'm not having any issues with the grocery store and shelves are full here. Every once in awhile a particular item will be short, but it's usually something weird like Lunchables or something. Or like back in December there was a run on chicken nuggets for some reason. We've really only encountered it with some processed food the kids eat for a quick dinner or lunch.6 -
Not sure why they are even giving 4th shot boosters here. A prominent doctor here said that he has yet to admit a triple vaxx'd person into the ICU.
But it's like they need to do SOMETHING so lets roll out 4th shots - with absolutely no evidence that we even need them.
Unfortunately the media has become obsessed with the idea of "waning antibodies" leading to public outcry for more boosters to keep antibodies high. Virologists say that it is perfectly normal for antibody levels to drop several months after vaccination, what's important is that your immune system develops T-cells to "remember" the virus so you can make more antibodies whenever you need to. TWIV was recently looking at a study showing wonderfully high T-cells activity around 8 months after vaxx I think, about as long as there is good data available for right now.
I think the other problem is not enough people are vaxxed, leading to high levels of virus circulating, leaving high risk people continually vulnerable to infection. They think a 4th shot might be necessary for those people especially, since they can't risk being even momentarily infected.
My layman's understanding is antibodies are best at keeping you from getting infected in the first place, while T-cells jump into action once you are infected. If everyone was vaxxed it would greatly limit spread, protecting vulnerable people from encountering the virus in the first place. But since it's not, they may need to keep their antibody levels high to protect them. Not sure if I'm explaining that right!
Anyway, TWIV and many (but not all) of the specialists they have on don't think further boosters would be necessary for most people, barring some wacky doomsday variant. Low vaxx levels are certainly complicating things though!
Great information and explanation!4 -
Where I live the grocery shelves are frequently bare these days. I've had to skip chicken for dinner because there was none, also pork chops, canned tomatoes, and ice cream. Fresh fruit and vegetables are usually okay, but meat is an issue.4
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Let's see, no green onions. Bottled juices were almost empty. Cat food, good luck. half and half stock up if I can find. Cracker isle, half gone. Pasta, one brand was stripped and others picked over. The rice I like was "out of stock". Mexican across from it was strangely empty, but nothing i needed today. Dairy picked over, or what was there was past sell by date, which I chose to buy since it was what I want and am comfortable with the risk. I skipped the ice cream isle, and if you know me, you know why. I did try and find frozen corn for tomorrow's dinner, and there was hardly a bag of any type of frozen vegetable. I eventually found a premium price bag of corn tucked way in the back.
@cwolfman13 Where are you located that you have it so good? I am north of boston at the moment.5 -
Things seem plenty in stock on the grocery shelves here in NYC.3
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I'm in central VA and usually have no grocery issues honestly. There have been a couple of days I've walked into Food Lion and there's tons of empty shelves and my assumption has been that they were short staffed and hadn't been able to pack out their deliveries yet. I know my parents have had problems finding roasting chickens and mozzarella cheese for months for some reason.
If the issue is a combo of covid call outs locally, covid issues for suppliers and truckers, more general staffing issues for the store, AND weather, I'd bet there'd be big differences in different places. Sorry to hear some of you are seeing this!6 -
Not sure why they are even giving 4th shot boosters here. A prominent doctor here said that he has yet to admit a triple vaxx'd person into the ICU.
But it's like they need to do SOMETHING so lets roll out 4th shots - with absolutely no evidence that we even need them.
Unfortunately the media has become obsessed with the idea of "waning antibodies" leading to public outcry for more boosters to keep antibodies high. Virologists say that it is perfectly normal for antibody levels to drop several months after vaccination, what's important is that your immune system develops T-cells to "remember" the virus so you can make more antibodies whenever you need to. TWIV was recently looking at a study showing wonderfully high T-cells activity around 8 months after vaxx I think, about as long as there is good data available for right now.
I think the other problem is not enough people are vaxxed, leading to high levels of virus circulating, leaving high risk people continually vulnerable to infection. They think a 4th shot might be necessary for those people especially, since they can't risk being even momentarily infected.
My layman's understanding is antibodies are best at keeping you from getting infected in the first place, while T-cells jump into action once you are infected. If everyone was vaxxed it would greatly limit spread, protecting vulnerable people from encountering the virus in the first place. But since it's not, they may need to keep their antibody levels high to protect them. Not sure if I'm explaining that right!
Anyway, TWIV and many (but not all) of the specialists they have on don't think further boosters would be necessary for most people, barring some wacky doomsday variant. Low vaxx levels are certainly complicating things though!
Great information and explanation!
Thanks With the time I've put into studying virus related science the last couple of years, I should print myself out an honorary degree lol! 15 -
Before lockdowns hit, I bought huge amounts of stuff I thought would keep a while. I just didn't know if grocery delivery would be an option or how good it would be. It was like playing a game of jenga freezer if you wanted anything in there. It turns out, grocery delivery was a readily available option, but inventory was hit or miss. This was mid-2020. I remember meat was especially hit or miss. A lot of the time there was no chicken, so I kept a whole chicken in the freezer in case there was a week there was nothing to buy.
Kind of seems that that again. Last 2 weeks out of 3 there were no whole chickens in my store. Kind of pondering whether I should go back to keeping an extra week worth of chicken and eggs on hand to deal with availability issues.
Ironically, @SModa61 apologized for taking the discussion off topic, but that is exactly the thread's initial focus.
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Welp, dh woke up with cold symptoms this morning and I asked him if he was going to take a self test. His reply was 'nah, it's just a cold'. But to humor me he did it anyways and it was positive.
He went bowling Sunday and thinks that's probably where he picked it up. He's only gone there and the bottle redemption place to get his cigarettes. But I know he doesn't mask up for those kinds of places.
Hopefully he'll be fine. I assume I can't see my sister for awhile? I can self test but need to wait until symptoms appear?
It's all so confusing, just wish it would end.12 -
Sorry to hear this, @ReenieHJ . Glad his symptoms are minor so far. If I'm keeping up with the CDC's latest...
- vaccinated people do not have to quarantine after a known exposure
- Omicron is currently 99+% of cases in the US, and incubation is thought to be 3 days on average
- Seeing your sister depends on her risk tolerance and how many RATs you have.
- - if you test negative, you are likely not contagious right at that moment and it's probably safe to see her, so if you have enough tests, just test before seeing her.
- - if you are limited on RATs, you can wait 3 days to test
DH should isolate 5 days. If asymptomatic at 5 days, he can stop isolating but should mask and distance another 5 days. Alternatively, if his RAT is negative at 5 days, he is probably no longer contagious and doesn't have to be as conscientious about masking/distancing. ETA: if he is RAT positive at 5 days, he should isolate another 5 days and retest with same priviso as initial test.4 -
@SModa61 that really stinks. I just picked up my groceries from our local Kroger and found that they had everything I ordered. There are usually 4-8 substitutions, and at least 1-2 things that they could not substitute. I was surprised that it was all there. I rarely go inside to do my own shopping, although masks are required in my state (Oregon) and where I live, people wear them. DH and I work with young children who cannot be vaccinated, so we continue to use online order/pick up. I order enough that they waive the delivery fee, so I usually tip the person bringing my order out with that money. It's saved me from so many opportunities for exposure. I'm really grateful that we haven't had anything completely gone, but I'm also only feeding the two of us. Planning meals for a family with kids would require some serious flexibility given all of those limitations.
@ReenieHJ hugs to you. I hope you stay Covid free.3 -
I live in MD, about an hour South of DC, and groceries have been sporadic at all the major stores. You can get most things if you aren't brand specific, but the shelves have definitely been sparsely stocked. Chicken is frequently non-existent, or there are nothing but wings. Same with coffee creamer, all brands and flavors. And you can forget trying to buy cold medicine at CVS, Target or Walmart.3
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RE: Groceries...
At my grocery store, there are very specific things that will sporadically be out of stock.
For a few weeks, it was strawberries. There was a sign stating that they couldn't get any from their suppliers. This week, blueberries were non-existent.
Super specific, but my husband and I really like Crispex cereal. It's not been available in any stores around here for MONTHS. Yet my grocery store keeps sending me coupons for it.
Oyster crackers...none for weeks.
This one is actually a serious problem...distilled water. I haven't been able to find it in many weeks, tried different stores. I use it for a humidifier, but my BIL really needs it for his CPAP and can't find any.
Luckily, we haven't had shortages of meat, most produce, or dairy.1 -
Our grocery stores in Colorado have been a nightmare for the last month or so. Nearly as bad as March-April 2020. Stock has been iffy for a while, but we also had 10 days of a grocery strike that upended pretty much all of supply and demand. Non-striking stores were sold out of everything because there was a rush on those stores by everyone that wouldn't cross the picket line. At the striking stores, nothing was stocked when the strike ended because they didn't have enough temporary workers willing to cross a picket line. I just bought coffee and milk at Walgreens to hold me over until all this madness settles down and hopefully will be able to get back to my usual curbside routine.3
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@ReenieHJ I am on day 10 from first symptoms…just felt like bad cold x 2 days, then sinus next day. Never got high temp or sore throat. Dr said I should do test, it was positive. Am vaxxed & boosted, so by 4th day feeling better. Still have nasal congestion & some PN drip, tho. Dd & gd also tested positive last Sat. No idea where I got it, theirs probably from school. We don’t have a mask mandate for schools, although Dd was wearing hers & I have always worn one when out..although they were cloth. Have now ordered better ones. Hope your dh does well. My dh never got it from me.3
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I see periodic empty shelves all the time at all of the stores I shop at and have since spring of 2020 though it's never been as bad as it was for one period of time last year when I could find no rice anywhere for more than a month. For some reason Kroger pasta shelves are always half empty but other categories change a lot. It can be annoying when you pre-plan your meals and go with a list but can't find the ingredients you need for specific dishes. More recently Kroger produce shelves have been half empty but I kind of wonder if it's more of a staffing issue since Safeway, Sprouts, etc aren't having that issue.
The turnover at my Kroger is pretty high as I've been shopping there for about 11 years so I've gotten to know the long term employees. Very few people are there for more than year and they seem to have lost some of the longer term ones recently. Either they're sick or they got fed up and retired since most of them were older. I always wonder if Kroger will eventually run out of people to abuse. I know they're trying to push self service but I buy too many vegetables to deal with that.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Somewhat unrelated topic. Finally ventured to a larger grocery store this morning because my local small one often does not have what I need lately. Well, guess what, I think the large one was even worse. I had to make compromises, or leave without, 50% of my list. IMO anyone saying the grocery stores are not impacted lately, and thus we the customers, is not doing any grocery shopping themselves.
Probably depends on where you are. I'm not having any issues with the grocery store and shelves are full here. Every once in awhile a particular item will be short, but it's usually something weird like Lunchables or something. Or like back in December there was a run on chicken nuggets for some reason. We've really only encountered it with some processed food the kids eat for a quick dinner or lunch.
Yeah, I've been to a few different grocery stores and had no issues.
There have been some cat food issues I've heard of. My cats both have prescription foods and that has been kind of hit and miss, but that's been going on for a while, not just with the more recent shortages.1 -
Sorry to hear this, @ReenieHJ . Glad his symptoms are minor so far. If I'm keeping up with the CDC's latest...
- vaccinated people do not have to quarantine after a known exposure
- Omicron is currently 99+% of cases in the US, and incubation is thought to be 3 days on average
- Seeing your sister depends on her risk tolerance and how many RATs you have.
- - if you test negative, you are likely not contagious right at that moment and it's probably safe to see her, so if you have enough tests, just test before seeing her.
- - if you are limited on RATs, you can wait 3 days to test
DH should isolate 5 days. If asymptomatic at 5 days, he can stop isolating but should mask and distance another 5 days. Alternatively, if his RAT is negative at 5 days, he is probably no longer contagious and doesn't have to be as conscientious about masking/distancing. ETA: if he is RAT positive at 5 days, he should isolate another 5 days and retest with same priviso as initial test.
I believe there is a distinction between a known exposure and a household exposure. If you live with the person who is positive, and don't isolate from them, it isn't the same recommendations as a random, casual type exposure as far as quarantine goes (here anyway).1 -
Somewhat unrelated topic. Finally ventured to a larger grocery store this morning because my local small one often does not have what I need lately. Well, guess what, I think the large one was even worse. I had to make compromises, or leave without, 50% of my list. IMO anyone saying the grocery stores are not impacted lately, and thus we the customers, is not doing any grocery shopping themselves.
Things generally haven't been terrible here - occasionally, outages of specific things (which things seems to vary). Paper goods have had some rough patches, but I buy them by the bale at Costco, and so far the timing of shortages hasn't worked out badly for me.
I suspect my shopping/cooking habits may help me avoid stress over temporary store shortages, though. There are certain foods I know are more important to me, and I have plenty of storage space (including a chest freezer in the basement), so I tend to keep one back of anything I really, really enjoy having regularly. (I have a container I'm using, and one in the pantry; when I use up the active one and go to the pantry one, I put the item on the list, so I have a while to find it in stock at the store without running out. Quickly used things, I might keep 2 back, during the pandemic.)
On the cooking front, I'd don't meal plan or prep (no family I'm cooking for, so this is easy). When it's meal time, I just see what I have on hand, decide what to make.
On the fresh foods side, it helps that I pretty much like all vegetables, so if there's anything at the store (or in the farmers market), I'm good. I don't prefer most frozen veg, but I do tend to have them around as backup or for quick meals. Vegetarian protein sources tend to have a longer life in the fridge than meats, which also helps.
Between this kind of stuff, social introversion (I like socializing, but don't require much to be OK), and lots of solo hobbies, I feel like I'm kind of optimized for a pandemic . . . not that I want one, and not that I'm actively enjoying this!8 -
Thanks to all who replied to my questions. I'm going to err on the side of caution with my sister; she's 77 and is fully vaxxed but does have some health issues. I don't want to be responsible for her getting sick.
As far as isolating from my dh, it's challenging to do at best. Plus, the virus has been incubating, probably since Sunday, so I'm sure I've been well exposed even before his symptoms began.
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Thanks to all who replied to my questions. I'm going to err on the side of caution with my sister; she's 77 and is fully vaxxed but does have some health issues. I don't want to be responsible for her getting sick.
As far as isolating from my dh, it's challenging to do at best. Plus, the virus has been incubating, probably since Sunday, so I'm sure I've been well exposed even before his symptoms began.
I didn't isolate from my husband either - mostly because it was 4 days before Christmas and I didn't want to spend the holidays totally alone. But we did isolate from everyone else. I never did get it (we both had our boosters the previous week.)5 -
Let's see, no green onions. Bottled juices were almost empty. Cat food, good luck. half and half stock up if I can find. Cracker isle, half gone. Pasta, one brand was stripped and others picked over. The rice I like was "out of stock". Mexican across from it was strangely empty, but nothing i needed today. Dairy picked over, or what was there was past sell by date, which I chose to buy since it was what I want and am comfortable with the risk. I skipped the ice cream isle, and if you know me, you know why. I did try and find frozen corn for tomorrow's dinner, and there was hardly a bag of any type of frozen vegetable. I eventually found a premium price bag of corn tucked way in the back.
@cwolfman13 Where are you located that you have it so good? I am north of boston at the moment.
While I did see those types of shortages spring 2020, there's nothing like that in my part of south of Boston these days!
I was at Market Basket earlier this week and was only unable to get the exact brand/type of two things on my list. They didn't have fat free Cabot cottage cheese, but they did have full fat. They didn't have Annie's crescent rolls, but they did have Pillsbury.2 -
Let's see, no green onions. Bottled juices were almost empty. Cat food, good luck. half and half stock up if I can find. Cracker isle, half gone. Pasta, one brand was stripped and others picked over. The rice I like was "out of stock". Mexican across from it was strangely empty, but nothing i needed today. Dairy picked over, or what was there was past sell by date, which I chose to buy since it was what I want and am comfortable with the risk. I skipped the ice cream isle, and if you know me, you know why. I did try and find frozen corn for tomorrow's dinner, and there was hardly a bag of any type of frozen vegetable. I eventually found a premium price bag of corn tucked way in the back.
@cwolfman13 Where are you located that you have it so good? I am north of boston at the moment.
I live in the ABQ metro area of NM just outside of Albuquerque. My township doesn't have any grocery stores, just a small mini mart type of place that actually stocks quite a few staples and some decent produce in season.
We do all of our grocery shopping in Albuquerque...we're only about 10 minutes out of the city limits. 90% of our grocery shopping is at Costco. About 10% at Albertson's which is the closest grocery store...mostly for produce and other things we don't want in Costco type of bulk.
Everything is pretty well stocked...occasionally I'll walk by and the bean or soup shelfs will be pretty sparse or something like that and some odd processed stuff like I mentioned with the Lunchables for the kids...but it's pretty much been the exact thing since about last spring which I figure is just part of the ongoing supply chain issue...but we can still get pretty much everything. If it's not on the shelf one day, it usually is the next or in a day or two.3 -
Kroger was missing my mom’s diet soda, any kind of bagels, my preferred bread, kosher pickles, any kind of plain Greek yogurt, raspberries, grapes, cherry tomatoes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, and radishes, preferred brand of dog and cat food, frozen edamame, my husband’s preferred cereal and sausage, any kind of steak, pork loin, and chicken thighs. It’s been a little bare for a few weeks but today was ridiculous. Husband was texting back and forth with the shopper trying to find substitutions and the meat department was basically empty. At 3 pm on a Wednesday when they normally do the big restock for the week Tuesday night. The steak in particular was just not there. He asked for several different cuts and she finally said lemme just show you and it was one package of gray steak that had clearly been left out and bare shelves.6
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Does anyone think that some of these shortages at grocery stores may be from employees out because of Covid? No one to stock shelves? There hasn’t been any noticeable shortages here. I grocery shopped yesterday, and the shelves were all full. I grocery shop, and wild bird seed shop (separate stores)once per week. That’s pretty much the only place we go. Cloth masks, vaxxed and boosted. I did order the tests a week ago to have on hand. Should receive them soon. It’s a bit concerning to me that many are not masking up anymore. I know they are saying cloth masks aren’t helping a lot, but isn’t something better than nothing?4
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While some of my often-bought products are missing from local shelves, it's easy enough to replace the items with other products, usually paying a bit more, or trying a different store. I guess we're pretty lucky that our shelves aren't as bare as some of you have mentioned. Wow 2
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Despite being vaccinated, boosted and careful I started having symptoms Monday and tested positive. Have no clue where I picked it up (although I probably have not been as careful the last couple of months as I was previously). Congestion, fever and very tired. The congestion has started clearing up but still running a fever and just want to sleep. I expect the fever to go away today or tomorrow. For now I'm isolating and sleeping a lot.
On the grocery front, it's been very hit or miss (I'm in Washington). No egg noodles, soup aisle picked over, preferred cat food in short supply. Fortunately I am pretty well stocked on most things.8 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Does anyone think that some of these shortages at grocery stores may be from employees out because of Covid? No one to stock shelves? There hasn’t been any noticeable shortages here. I grocery shopped yesterday, and the shelves were all full. I grocery shop, and wild bird seed shop (separate stores)once per week. That’s pretty much the only place we go. Cloth masks, vaxxed and boosted. I did order the tests a week ago to have on hand. Should receive them soon. It’s a bit concerning to me that many are not masking up anymore. I know they are saying cloth masks aren’t helping a lot, but isn’t something better than nothing?
Sick employees or labor shortages might be part of the problem...but, at least here, it's not like all products across the board are going un-stocked. It's only very specific products, which points to supply issues instead.
Lack of workers is definitely the reason why there were NO checkers in my grocery store a few days ago. It's a LARGE grocery store with 10+ checkout lanes...but no cashiers. Everyone had to use self-checkout, which, for big orders, is a pain.6 -
The main thing that I am having trouble finding is baby formula. It is out in most stores so I had to check multiple different places and order online a few times. Everything else seems to be well stocked.8
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@missysippy930 I would think twice about cloth masks. That was my thought, too, vaxxed, boosted, & mask (cloth) should protect me. And I was wrong..today is day 11 since symptoms started & had a + test done at Dr’s office. Only had bad cold/sinus symptoms for 3 days, but still feel stuffed up. I have upgraded our masks (to KN95) since dh stayed negative. And we were masking up whenever leaving the house…I have no idea where I got it!6
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