Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

My (new) boss's birthday is next week; she had been planning some sort of trip (I didn't get/want details) but it got scuttled, and now she can't even go out to dinner/drinks with friends. She is...displeased.

What are the shops like you guys? We have people lining up outside the supermarket 6 ft apart and they're restricting entrance in a one in one out way. Cut down hours as well. Line was about 40-50 people just now, had to make a call so I'm going to try tomorrow morning instead

I have to venture out later today, not looking forward to it

My parents are receiving an Instacart order from Costco today, curious to hear how that goes (sad lol)

Same with my local grocery. I'm also trying to buy stuff in advance so it can sit in isolation for a few days before use, so I really need to plan.

xp

what if you had a wedding / honeymoon planned within the next 3-6 months? That would suuuuuuck

― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, March 18, 2020 1:12 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

at least one ilxor has and seems to be taking it well

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 18, 2020 1:23 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, uh, about that...

not taking it so well anymore lol. have a call with the venue about possible reschedule this afternoon and it suuuuucks indeed.

ah I didn't know about you! … sorry

grocery shopping yesterday was weirdly assuring and good for me! multiple places doing normal, reasonable business, everything (including toilet paper) fully stocked, crowds and employees all very reasonable and friendly. calmed me down a lot.

on top of everything else we're dealing with aftershocks from a 5.7 earthquake today.. no damage where i am just my nerves.

in good news the small gym i go to hasn't shut down yet so i got in some deadlifts this morning. the place probably sees 50 people per day on average. don't @ me.

You're in SLC map?

dumb question sorry!

got back from an ill-timed vacation in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. All the travel and uncertainty had me feeling very unsettled and anxious, especially as I had seen lots of reports that the local groceries were all cleared out. My wife tracked down a subreddit where people report on the status of local groceries, which helped me pick a place to go today. It was only moderately busy, some items like bread, butter, frozen vegetables, onions, canned goods, and pasta were pretty cleared out, but at least still presented some reasonable options if you are willing to be flexible about brands, especially since unlike many people, we don't mind spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus, etc. So I ended up getting a pretty good amount of groceries. At this point, we are well stocked for the next 2-3 weeks, and I am feeling much less worried.

xp yes, lol not a dumb question!

dear brooklynites: old news but this place is fucking awesome - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/nyregion/at-carnival-fresh-market-in-brooklyn-a-united-nations-for-the-palate.html

Friend texted and said there is a "usps might suspend all non-essential delivery" rumor. I said I had my doubts and she replied "amazon did it and they're bigger than usgov." So now I'm definitely freaking out because that would be the final nail in my economic coffin (not that Discogs and eBay sales are exactly off the hook right now)

https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/03/nyc-food-delivery-workers-portraits.html

"amazon did it and they're bigger than usgov."

huh? amazon stopped their non-essential deliveries? that's news to me.

To warehouses. Still...

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-amazon-suspends-all-non-essential-shipments-to-warehouses-2020-3

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/488037-amazon-suspending-shipments-of-non-essential-items-to-warehouses

i got a distinctly non-essential delivery from amazon yesterday and a note saying my next one is here tomorrow.

From Amazon website:

Amazon will continue taking orders and shipping items from across our store, customers ordering items they don’t need immediately have the opportunity to help others by choosing No-Rush Shipping when this ship option is available. Selecting the No-Rush option enables us to consolidate orders and make fewer stops in neighborhoods throughout the week, and most importantly, serve customers with the most critical needs first. March 17, 2020

I did, too. I ordered the Horse Lords LP a few days ago and it arrived today. I was surprised, tbh

we don't mind spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus,

Fridge full of these! Plus kale, broccoli, raddishes, leeks. I can hardly decide what to cook first.

I will absolutely be choosing No Rush if I order anything at all (which is looking unlikely given my current predicament)

xxp yeah I got my Horse Lords LP yesterday! tbh I took it inside with gloves and am letting the package sit there for a few days before I open it..

In other news I just sliced and bagged twelve bell peppers for the freezer. It took over an hour

tryin to imagine the assholes ordering the Japanese import of Rush's 2112 and paying $20 to overnight it

Yeah but what if it was, like, Individual Thought Patterns?

xpost Clearly they didn't see the No Rush Shipping suggestion.

omg Josh, lol

Amazon have stopped selling viinyl in the UK so that they can free up the shelf space for more urgently required items. Obviously this is an economic decision for them, but it might also be a boost for smaller resellers and the artists themselves via bandcamp

here's a link with more info
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/coronavirus-clobbers-music-retail-as-amazon-halts-trade-orders-of-cd-and-vinyl/

oh sorry i missed that was being referenced anyway, excuse my redundancy

as I expected, the suspension of mortgages and rent are only for public housing. that might be, jurisdiction-wise, the most the fed government can do though.

guessing anything more than that would be state-level, and of course courts will probably suspend holding the proceedings and Sheriffs probably won't forcibly evict people. just hoping people stay diligent and report any illegal landlord/lender activity.

thankfully i'm good on my end. bleh.

getting more groceries today. realized I still didn't buy enough, so gonna try to make this the last trip for a while

even if it is up to States this is a clear case where the President could use the power of “the bully pulpit” to bring them along

I mean I would hope so. two of my close friends already had their dick landlord say they "better have the rent" next month.

I've had an email from the credit card company with the subj line 'COVID-19 - we're here to help' and from the mortgage company with 'important information' and both times I stupidly imagined they might be offering help or information beyond 'please consider using our website instead of coming into branch' ffs

xp fuck that

Oregon basically just made evictions illegal, via a lawyer friend:

"Chief Justice Walters’s order today shutting down as much of the Oregon court system as can be shut down consistently with the Constitution and law both contains specific pro-tenant language and amounts to an ironclad ban on evictions across the state for as long as court access is restricted. If you would like me to consult with you as a lawyer for free on what this might mean for you, because your housing might be in crisis, you can contact me using the info on my website."

sleeve thanks for that, I’ll pass it on to my v anxious friends who are prob going to have their jobs shut down in the next couple days if they haven’t already

yr welcome Clay, here's the website for reference:

http://bwnlaw.com

having spent time in recovery etc i am mindful of alcoholics and addicts during this time. withdrawal is not a joke and lots of folk people don't think about will be suffering soon

^^ yeah, on a similar note PA just closed its state liquor stores, which seems like a mixed bag

Even the dealers are trying it pic.twitter.com/KDCqikBR06

— Tom Usher (@tom_usher_) March 18, 2020

i realize I'm weirdly trying way too hard to try and help friends and family help themselves during this, by forwarding information on their state's expansion of unemployment, etc and at some point I have to trust them to be adults and do these things on their own.

yes, part of it being I'm afraid of people asking for help and me not being able to and feeling ten feet tall as a result, but I have a nanny mentality that I've also been told I have at work and that I need to let people just do things for themselves.

my annual review is tomorrow. I'm priced out of my pay grade and we're also cutting corners, but last year they gave me a bonus because of my performance. hoping they do this year too.

so many dams to plug that are fine now but won't be in six months

Every pub quiz team member in 20yrs time who knows everything about Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/bnWoQrHygQ

— St. Paddy Raff (@paddyraffcomedy) March 14, 2020

Just tried to order more pantry staples, because my flour is going to run out soon. (Tried to convince housemates a few days ago that we should all order things now, of course there was lots of delay and resistance as per usual.) Anyway, Amazon is not scheduling deliveries in our area and Instacart says all stores around us are sold out of flour, pasta and rice. What did we succeed in getting? A dozen cans of tomatoes, four pounds of butter and a bottle of whisky. Hopefully things restock in a few days, but it's very surreal to be in a big city and have life-on-an-island-where-the-barge-can't-get-through type shortages.

Is all the food communal? Has anyone ventured out to smaller places?

the stuff about grocery stores is surreal to me because the grocery store near me was fine

mine's definitely showing holes in certain aisles, but mostly has had what my non-cooking, solo ass needed.

no hot dog buns tho

i stopped by wegmans again just to see. i got more yogurt. no nonfat greek yogurt there, just whole, which is fine. limited meat to 2 packs of each thing per customer. i got a "family pack" of chicken breasts. frozen food section still empty, or empty again. very little bread left. they are closing 2 hours early now (10 pm). i feel like this is gonna go on for a while so i'm trying to think of what i don't have that i'm going to want. i love to grocery shop so this is the hardest part for me (shows how lucky i am really).

grocery shopping is my preferred tourist activity.