outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

If you and your family have to isolate for weeks you'll need lots of TP. Not a million rolls but certainly more than you usually stock.

I don't get why people don't get that

(and no I haven't been panic buying TP)

Sure, but you'll need much more than just that. Yet it's loo roll that's being hoarded mostly, way more than other stuff.

As noted upthread also, it’s an item that takes up a lot of space that isn’t usually bought at high volume (and they need that space on the lorry for stuff ppl buy more frequently) so it only takes a slight increase in stocking up to give the impression of panic buying; of course that impression then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as ppl panic at the notion of a shortage due to others panicking

Obv there are arseholes buying a stupid amount, it’s baffling to me that there are shops left not enforcing limits on bulk buying

That makes more sense, ty. The optics are against it too, in big bulk, I suppose.

Went to my local Morrisons - which is where scum like me usually shop - took one look inside and left. So went to the Waitrose just along the road and found that the better classes are panic buying toilet paper, pasta, rice, tinned food etc too.

Did manage to score the last tin of red kidney beans from Waitrose though - RESULT!

my brother did a couple of Facebook posts about Waitrose customers fighting over avocados and nduja paste yesterday

my corner shop has plenty of bog roll. this morning i bought a 4-pack calmly as i normally do. just did a delivery order from our bourgie grocery service though and they don’t have any more!

You buy a 4-pack of toilet roll every morning?

I've been buying them in batches of 108 for years now. I'm quite an authority on bulk toilet roll markets.

I never buy anything in bulk so I'm probably going to die.

xpost lol yes I’m flattening my stockpiling curve *taps forehead*

My local Sainsbury's had a completely bare flour shelf yesterday, along with soup, soap, bog roll, tissues, cheese crackers and pasta. Luckily there's plenty of chocolate digestives still, don't know how long that state of affairs will continue though.

London Farmer’s Markets all staying open and doing a roaring trade so if you have one by you, stop by (but be prepared to queue for eggs).

Heard from my best friend in Toronto that he was in emergency last night with a bad, week-long fever. (Ex-ILX'or--some of you know him.) Heard from him this morning that it's pneumonia; they gave him some medicine and sent him home. Me: "Great news!"

Bacterial pneumonia perhaps?

I'm not sure--anyway, it's not the other, and even though I know how serious pneumonia can be, if they sent him home, I assume it's treatable.

Must've been a scary experience whichever way. Hope they mend soon!

If it's who I think, clem, please send him my best. I'll send him a message too.

so I look forward to being shot on sight when I leave my building to find food

anyway, going to the movies this afternoon

(xpost) Yes--he'll appreciate that, I'm sure.

Yo Morbs I have a scooter and am pretty mobile without using public transit so holler if you need groceries or anything. I can leave it outside your door or whatever method you want to avoid compromise. I'm not always in the city but keep me in mind. I have nothing else to do tbh!

Schools in Wisconsin closing Wednesday. We have not heard anything from work yet, but it would be pretty irresponsible to send them on Monday, right?

i stocked up with rice pasta and pulses! this is so the opposite of my normal approach to shopping that i am worn out and my mind is blown

hackney shops are still well stocked and friendly! the main (larger) one i went to was busyish i suppose -- not sure i've even been in it on a saturday before -- and the shop ppl were looking a bit sardonic at everyone's sudden mass shift towards less fancy purchase (dude do you even mung bean) but it is very liminal here between hipsters and large asian families that even this may have been routine boredom

The small-town store where my bf lives has sanitizer and wipes dispensers right in the entrance where you don't have to touch anything to get in and can clean your cart handle. I also used it on the way out because yes ppl touch all kinds of things in stores.

Thinking through how many things in my home have been unavoidably touched by others made me realize--being home doesn't mean it's safe to touch my face either! Don't touch! Bad hand!

at last the benefits of never having people in my home come through

🙌

anybody know what the recommended quarantine period is if you test positive? like, I know on person who has been exposed (she was at an event where another person tested positive) and she is self-isolating for two weeks, but what about if you actually test positive? still two weeks? a month?

thx io <3

i'm continuing to go to the office plantation at least the beginning of next week

if anyone has tips for best availability of sanitizer/rubber gloves in/around Kensington/Ditmas Park/Slope lmk

Self isolating, bulk buying rice & pulses, somewhat compulsive hand washing - my culture is not a costume, people!

ok, translation needed. what are pulses?

Pulses = beans / legumes? If it's something else I didn't mean that.

anybody know what the recommended quarantine period is if you test positive? like, I know on person who has been exposed (she was at an event where another person tested positive) and she is self-isolating for two weeks, but what about if you actually test positive? still two weeks? a month?

― sleeve, Saturday, 14 March 2020 15:03 (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

UK gov recommends a minimum of a week following onset of symptoms.
UK gov also recommended Brexit so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sleeve, iirc my work OH's guidance said two weeks after you stop exhibiting symptoms, but that if the cough is the only remaining symptom and it's been two weeks you can stop, as it can persist for several weeks after you stop being infectious

thank you!

I am going on the subway for an hour to go clean a studio bathroom.
as - last week - i have promised the person in charge of the studio i will do this I think i will do this today and then write them an email saying it's gonna not happen again until this madness passes.

at least it'll be easy to wash your hands when you're done!

bringing my own gloves/mask

The brands are already sending out marketing emails targeted at workers in semi-quarantine: pic.twitter.com/ioy5f1jJi7

— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) March 13, 2020

pulses per my usage was red lentils, chick peas and kidney beans

"peas, beans, lentils," late 13c., from Old French pouls, pols and directly from Latin puls "thick gruel, porridge, mush," probably via Etruscan, from Greek poltos "porridge" made from flour, or both the Greek and Latin words are from the same source

sez etymonline.com, never happier than when i'm using the original etruscan

Covid 19 Tracker. Useful for Americans trying to find out whether their state is ahead of the curve (ie; low % positives) in testing for SARS-CoV-2. Some states aren't reporting negative results.

I think my state (LA) is only catching about 15% (those who are showing up, short of breath at ERs) at present.

international transport is turning fucked quickly in Europe today, with international trains and flights being canceled. a Japanese colleague is here with me and was supposed to go to Munich next week and then to Japan a few days later, but on Aeroflot from Munich to Tokyo; and Aeroflot just announced that from 16 March, scheduled flights will be suspended between Moscow and Barcelona, Burgas, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Munich, Thessaloniki and Zurich. now he has to scramble to get a flight to Tokyo asap, or risk getting stuck here (which is mainly bad because it will be expensive and possibly dangerous if he gets sick here)(not that Tokyo is significantly safer in that regard but he'll have insurance there at least)

Flights between the U.K. and US are likely to stop early next week too.

I live in a small town (6,000), with a moderate-sized town (35,000) 15 minutes east, and a small city (350,000) 30 minutes southwest. We've got two grocery stores: a large one, Independent, owned by Canada's largest grocery conglomerate (Loblaws), and Foodland, a smaller chain store. I've been dropping into one or both the past few days--buying a few things at a time, sometimes just a normal daily stop for one thing (like a salad today), and I also walk there for the exercise in lieu of the gym.

Nothing even approaching hoarding yet. That one highly-coveted item is out--a phenomenon that continues to baffle me--but the shelves are otherwise mostly full. The smaller chain had two lines three-deep at noon today, with another 10 people milling about in the store. Maybe double that when I was in the larger store yesterday. I thought you might start to get people driving in from Stratford and London, but not yet, evidently. If the world shuts down tomorrow, I've got enough for 3-4 weeks easy. This is heartening, but I'm under no illusions that St. Marys wouldn't follow the path of what I'm reading about in Toronto if things took a turn for the worse.

I walked past this ice cream shop on the way home--passed it a thousand times in the car since moving here in November--that has just reopened after seasonal closing. Had to smile wryly--can you imagine reopening this week after a few months off? "Uh, welcome back!" On a good note, there were seven people at the window buying ice cream. I think that's a good note, I don't know.

Small towns and even more rural people will be the last to join the party. They rightly believe that living at the end of the line means they are somewhat insulated. Then, when it arrives, they will keenly feel the lack of sophisticated medical care outside oft the big cities.

More personally, my 75-year old brother in law, who was slowly recovering from what I strongly suspect was a bout with COVID-19, was admitted to the hospital yesterday and is now placed in isolation in an ICU, where he is in an induced coma and on a respirator. The preliminary diagnosis is Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Also, he was finally (!) tested for COVID-19, but the results will not be available until possibly tomorrow.

Fuck

Aimless, that's rough. Sorry to hear it.