Saturday, February 29, 2020

Happy Saturday

























Everything, from the news to info at work, to everything else I've read, just confirms what I've already told you this week.

So if you missed something, go back and read at least the last 5 posts here.
Let reality wash over you and sink in.

And then, don't panic.
(There's always time to panic later. So never do it now.)
Plan.

And do.

Do your shopping, and then relax, and have a happy Saturday.

It could always be worse: First U.S. Coronavirus death reported.




31 comments:

From Norway said...

Clusterfuck in Norway, you will hear from us tomorrow. Sick doctor just arrived from northern Italy goes to work in hospital. 4 days later, himself and two co-workers confirmed. 28 others with symptoms. Frantically calling the 400+ patients that went through the clinic last week. Do not want to even think about the canteen.

George True said...

Here in Phoenix AZ this whole thing is still mostly below the radar of most people. I went to Costco last night to pick up more bulk food items. The store was not crowded, and people seemed to be doing normal shopping. I did not see any empty or depleted pallets. Afterwards I went to the local grocery store and observed the same.

I am however beginning to see a few blank spots in the shelves at the grocery store and drug store. Specifically, certain OTC drugs. A lot of the Advil and even store brand ibuprofen was sold out. I have been hearing about shortages of bleach and spray disinfectants containing bleach. My local store still has it, but there are empty sections of shelves in those sections where I never saw empty slots before. Other items like hydrogen peroxide and 70% & 91% rubbing alcohol were still in plentiful supply.

An interesting aside. About a week ago, my wife sent me to the store to get her a new pair of reading glasses. Wal-Mart's stock was over 90% wiped out. Same for Target. Walgreen's and CVS were severely depleted. Almost all reading glasses are made in China. This is just one small example of a second order effect that I never would have thought about prior to this. As time goes on, we are bound to see many such effects that we never thought about before.

Now that the media has finally caught on and is beginning to hype the coverage of this virus, this thing could explode into the mass consciousness of Americans very soon. So if you need anything else, get it within the next few days. When the masses descend upon the stores in panic, it will be too late.

chewbacca said...

Apparently 80% of all garlic comes from china. Who knew?

chewbacca said...

Another happy thought. USA has outsourced most of its pharmaceuticals to China. Including antidepressants and antipsychotics. When those run out, (6 weeks tops?) you WILL need to conceal carry if you venture outside...

Anonymous said...

I'm out here in the Hinterlands. Went to the nearest Walmart (Omak, WA) 40+ miles from where I live. It seemed pretty normal for a Friday morning. Didn't notice any shortages and I was able to get in and out pretty quickly.

Smoker78 said...

Here in the newly minted Democratic Republic of Virginistan, the commissaries are conspicuously short on certain medical items. No major rush yet, just an increase in certain shopping habits, but considering the Fleet, NATO, the Army and Chair Farce are all here, there may be a little more in the planning stage than some other places.

The Gray Man said...

Do your shopping, and put away some extra flats of canned goods. A flat of canned corn is like $6. Gets some cases of water. I mean, ideally, you should be catching rainwater or something, but having more water is always good.

nick flandrey said...

Stores still have pet food. Nobody thinks about that. Who's got 3-6 months of dog food?

Monday I hit my vet up for the next 6 months of dog meds. Don't want to run out of flee and tick, or heartworm...

Kitty litter bought. Dog food and treats bought. No bleach tabs today, the store I thought I was going to moved...

Moved some things from storage to home.

Need to get out in the garage and move stuff around.

n

(and that is bad news about Norway. It's been several years since I was in Stavenger, but I enjoyed it very much. Only a few surly males smoking in the alley behind the mosque. I bet that has increased dramatically since I was there.) (all the other males were working, and only visible on weekends....)

The Gray Man said...

You already need to CC. I’m not sure we will be short on psychotropic meds in 6 weeks, but it could happen st some point. I live in a tiny town of only about 300 people and I still know half this town is medicated.

nick flandrey said...

Data point on transmissibility--

"South Korea's Shincheonji Church members found 1557 out of 1900 tested positive for virus"

IIRC one woman sick, 4 church services, and now 3/4s casually exposed have it. That's pretty damn high R0.

nick

James M Dakin said...

I can't say for sure, as I only have a Family Dollar here, not a Dollar Tree ( 200 miles away ), but I got all my reading glasses at the dollar store. For what its worth, Family seemed to be running out of certain items slower than Wal-Mart.

Anonymous said...

"Most people will be OK."

Except the 3% or 5% that get really, really sick will collapse the medical system.

And I am immune suppressed from the one prescription I do take.
I am used to being exceptional, I just hope I am not exceptional this time.

Wash your hands.
Finish your preps.
Stay out of crowds.
Wash your hands some more.

Thank you for the warnings.

Is he doctor in Norway named Gilligan?

Anonymous said...

"and I still know half this town is medicated."

This is the most pertinent observation and will be the cause of most problems post quarantine, or whatever you want to call it.
The psychological effects will turn the most calm citizen into a raving imbecile in need of lead poisoning.
Those dependent on daily medication for "feelings" will be the worst.

Michael or Janice said...

A couple of weeks ago I was looking at container ship schedules. It takes four weeks to go from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, plus however long customs wants to take, plus train and truck ride across USA. I believe the shortages we are seeing now are people stocking up. A couple of weeks from now we will be finding out just how dependent we are on China.

Central Iowa and stores are still well stocked with a few strange empty spots. I do my shopping at 7 am when I get off work. Walmart's midnight stockers have just finished their jobs and Sam's Club are in the middle of their's.

Lowes has been carrying N95 masks and N100 respirators. Just a few left Sat morning. I plan to check again Monday morning. I have some but if we need them more would be good.

This is a strange slow motion Train Wreck. Some people see something coming. The wife tells me the national news and local news are talking about this being a pandemic. I am seeing maybe some evidence of people around here prepping.

Mike

nick flandrey said...

Good article about the Oregon death, and possible nursing home outbreak. Lots of other info too. Much more candid than other states.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-29/coronavirus-death-seattle

nick

nick flandrey said...

Another article, https://qz.com/1810763/the-first-covid-19-death-in-the-us-has-been-reported-near-seattle/

"The man, who had underlying health conditions, passed away at the Evergreen Health Medical Center in Kirkland. The facility’s medical director of infection control, Frank Riedo, said that area hospitals are seeing more individuals with severe coronavirus symptoms. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” he said, according to AP.

Nearby, the Life Care Center of Kirkland reported that a resident in her 70s was in serious condition from the disease, while a worker in her 40s was in satisfactory condition. Dozens of other individuals associated with the facility are reportedly ill with respiratory symptoms and are being tested for the disease, state officials said, noting they expect more positive cases."

n

Anonymous said...

Got to the grocery store at 06 when they open. Wanted to stock up a bit more and figured later in the day would be a zoo. In the early AM it was pretty quiet. The checker and bagger looked at me like I was a bit loony with some of the what I had and the amounts. I live in the middle of white and uptight libtard country so I'm kind of used to the looks.

The wife went out later and indicated the local Target was indeed a zoo. No bleach. Saw a lady with a cart full of sanitizing wipes, soaps, bleach, etc.

People are beginning to figure it out. Thanks to Aesop for helping keeping us ahead of the curve and having a spot to share ideas and observations.

God be with you, Aesop, and all your first responder brethren. You all will bear the brunt of this. Semper Fi!

nick flandrey said...

I got some kennel cleaner germicide and disinfectant. It was cheap and is designed to clean.

As I mentioned earlier, Costco and our local giant grocery were both (actually or effectively) sold out of rubbing alcohol, bleach, bleach based cleaner. Costco had gloves, HEB did not.

Ebay has instituted a 'no price gouging' policy but it didn't seem to have reduced mask prices or availability when I checked earlier.

There are/were still masks on ebay, but they are getting more expensive with every day.

nick

Anonymous said...

Nearly topped up. Went wine shopping, laid in more canned goods and frozen veg. We are pretty confident in our local utilities from having worked with them, but will start filling the water drums anyway.
Few shortages ( store brand bleach) noted at the local grocery. Went to Whole Foods for the first time in over a year and place was untouched.
Tomorrow will buy some Quicklime and a couple more buckets.
We have always stocked for our dogs as we have ourselves. Kids are doing their preps in their town.
Boat Guy

John Wilder said...

Jackie Corona-Chan!

Things very dull here in Mayberry. Shelves full. Wal-Mart had a big display of hand sanitizer.

Boring - for now.

nick flandrey said...

A quick check of amazon for freeze drieds, and everything I looked at was out of stock.

When I did a more general search, and wasn't just looking at their "also bought" or recommended, I did find meals available but ship times were "usually one to two MONTHS".

So I'm comfortable saying that most of the FD food on amazon is effectively sold out.

I wonder if it is .gov agencies gearing up, or ordinary folks?

n

Jonathan H said...

I doubt the .gov is buying FD food from Amazon; I think it's ordinary folks.
A couple things I needed were out of stock on the site i normally buy from, so I looked around and found a smaller site that not only had everything I wanted in stock, they had it cheaper than my normal site!
So far, the few shortages I've found have been site or store specific and I've gotten what I needed elsewhere - but I haven't been looking for gloves or bleach.

I suspect selection at this point is dependent on local interest and inventory levels, but I expect that to change soon.

Charles in VA said...

No rest for the wicked.

Apparently, California isn't all that worried about the Kung Flu. Santa Clara County still has enough time on their hands to out-do Virginia retards on the 2A gun grab front.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/2a-under-fire-ca-santa-clara-forms-gun-confiscation-team

Evidently, the west coast fucktards are actually forming confiscation squads to go door to door! Who signs up for THAT duty, I ask you?

Maybe they think that with all the current chaos, it's the perfect time? Maybe they're right, but I wouldn't bet MY life on it.

I guess now's the time to show us Virginian bumpkins how to really handle a 2A crisis, ain't it? Because the whole country thought it was a good idea to stick their collective noses in our little tussle. I wonder if that will play out the same in CA. Somehow, I doubt it.

We can always blame the lack of interest on the Kung Flu. Do militias fail to muster in during a pandemic? That NBC gear is expensive and hard to come by, not to mention hard to fight in. All those Grizzly Adams types would never get a proper seal on those masks anyway.

nick flandrey said...

"I doubt the .gov is buying FD food from Amazon"

--Nope I don't think that, I think .gov may be getting in line with the suppliers before it gets to the resellers. The delay in shipping time means the resellers don't have any and don't think they'll get any but would still like your money to hold your place in line...

The MH website shows Sold Out on everything.

Augason Farms site says everything is selling out, so they're only making the most requested and they are showing one to two months for "processing" of orders. They are still showing "in stock" on a number of kits, ground meat and egg products, and bulk staples. I don't know if they will actually ship "in stock" items or if they will take the 2 months.

nick

Anonymous said...

A look at the particulars of why this virus could cause higher death rates than one might expect from 'just the flu':

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/the-virus-that-challenged-the-world/amp/?__twitter_impression=true


But 2+ order effects are what most people haven't even got on their radar screen. And of course no part of .gov is mentioning this..b/c who wants people to know the truth.. er, panic.

nick flandrey said...

The CDC is officially trying to gaslight the public. After weeks of using their extremely limited algorithm for determining just who gets tested, they issues this...

"Recognizing persons at risk for COVID-19 is a critical component of identifying cases and preventing further transmission. With expanding spread of COVID-19, additional areas of geographic risk are being identified and PUI criteria are being updated to reflect this spread. To prepare for possible additional person-to-person spread of COVID-19 in the United States, CDC continues to recommend that clinicians and state and local health departments consider COVID-19 in patients with severe respiratory illness even in the absence of travel history to affected areas or known exposure to another case."

Bolded is gaslighting. It is in fact the opposite of what they recommended.

It's a distraction, but I'm reading the official stuff anyway so I'll continue to call them out on it.

nick

nick flandrey said...

BTW, second and third order effects... new computers should be in short supply as soon as existing stocks of parts get assembled. Huge whackloads of the stuff inside a pc or laptop come from china and only china.

If you were going to buy one soon anyway, you might want to move that purchase forward. Personally, if it won't directly help get thru this, I'm not doing it, but it's something to think about.

n

CPAP supplies, sanitizer, etc need to be on your list, if that applies to you.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in the US

Local Costco sold 4 months of toilet paper in one day. Hand sanitizer is stripped bare from the shelves. The masks can not be bought anywhere. I'm in the know on this, one store had a pallet arrive (6 months stock) and within 45 minutes it was all gone with cars tearing into the car park and anxious people running in yelling.

George True said...

Went back to Costco in North Central Phoenix today. It was crowded, but not much more so than a normal weekend afternoon. However, it seemed that most carts coming out of the store had at least one, and sometimes two of the 30 packs of TP. But they still had some left. However, my daughter texted me that the Costco in NW Phoenix was OUT of TP.

I thought I might pick another 50 lb bag of Jasmine rice today. They were OUT. They were also OUT of the 50 lb bags of regular long grain rice. I have never seen that here before.

Also went to two paint stores, Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware, and Home Depot to investigate whether anyone had disposable masks. None available anywhere. Even the $30-$60 respirator masks were either in short supply or totally GONE in most stores.

Folks, the second order effects even here in Phoenix AZ, where there are no reported cases so far, are being seen. No matter where you are, if there is anything you need for weathering a two or three month bug-in, GET IT NOW.

Robin Datta said...

TPTB emmeffs continue harping on observing for symptoms and signs in persons with geographic exposure. While knowing full well that asymptomatic folks can harbor and share the Kung Flu virus. For the better part of a week or two. The connection between their two brain cells needs fixing. Cannot corral critter.

nick flandrey said...

US healthcare workers test positive...

"In California, two health care workers in the San Francisco Bay area who cared for an earlier coronavirus patient were diagnosed with the virus on Sunday, the Alameda and Solano counties said in a joint statement.

The health care workers are both employed at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, California, and had exposure to a patient treated there before being transferred to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, the statement said. That patient was the first person in the U.S. discovered to have contracted the coronavirus with no known overseas travel."

--does anyone here think they were the only two exposed? Or that dozens if not hundreds of coworkers and patients were also exposed?

n