Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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GROCERY SHOPPING IN THE TIME OF THE CORONAVIRUS

I do not mind shopping. I find it to actually be a little fun. I am a bit of a bargain shopper and an explorer. This even applies to grocery shopping. In the time of the coronavirus, grocery shopping is a little bit of a challenge because of limited supplies and out-of-stock merchandise. My approach is to DIVERSIFY. By that I mean explore other stores because every store is different.

So let me give an example. I live in a small town and it has one budget grocery store called - Ruler. It is loosely affiliated with Krogers and carries many of Kroger's brands but of a very limited selection. Generally I grocery shop in a larger city with much greater selection. I will shop at Krogers or a big box store (Sam's Club). But many of these stores are still plagued by shortages. Currently there is a meat shortage. Many meat racks are bare or have buy-1 limits on meats. I wanted to buy some breakfast sausage the last couple weeks but supplies were limited.

But then I checked in my local store and sure enough, there were plenty of meats and even breakfast sausage, and no limits. I suspect the reason why is that my small store is closer to the food source. Therefore the approach I recommend is to explore during the time of the coronavirus. One might expand to explore Fish Markets, Farmers Markets, Produce Markets, small Specialty Shops, to places less traveled and live adventurously.

^ For the first time in over two months I'm planning to venture out to a grocery store or two and the home improvement/farm store. I feel I now have the PPE necessary to do so. I bought a new pair of prescription glasses that are sunglasses frames but with regular lenses. I already have a pair of these with dark sunglasses lenses. The reason I bought them with regular lenses is that the type wraps around and even has a detachable foam seal. When the seal is on, the glasses become like goggles. I bought these specifically to go out in public (Coronaville). I have them now. I'm ready. I have my N95 which I'll be wearing and I'll be wearing gloves. I'll have 91% alcohol soaked paper towels in zip loc sandwich bags for wiping anything down in the vehicle that I think I might compromise (e.g. door handles). When I get home, I'll be doffing my clothes in the wash and showering.

I hope that's enough. I feel I don't have a choice. There are so many things that need to be done around my homestead this summer that require supplies, etc.

Good luck Magna!

I'm not leaving the house to shop yet. There's still lockdown here, and I'm still ordering everything online. There's only one place that delivers so I'm not able to "diversify" anything. Pre-Virus I did my main shopping online but I went to farmers' markets when possible. They aren't even operating now.

^ & ^^

Thank you, Jimmy and Isabella. I'll report back as to what I see in the stores, the % of people with masks or without, etc. I won't be going to Sam's Club as much as I'd like because of the reason you mention, Jimmy. I'm betting on massive shortages there because in my area "preppers" love Sam's Club and when I went there last, several months ago, it was cleaned out (hoarding). I'm willing to bet it's still the same situation there.

This is a holiday weekend in the US, and I have a feeling this is when a lot of people will decide it's time to return to normal. There will probably still be a lot of mask wearing, and some business will unfortunately still be closed, but I suspect general behavior will start returning to normal.

CHINA TRANSPARENCY WITH COVID-19

China has not been very transparent about COVID-19. It has been deceptive, dishonest and antagonistic. It is almost like you cannot rely and anything that China says or does.

So China says it has the coronavirus under control. But some of the latest actions by China seem to point in the opposite direction.

China’s Communist Party is again seizing factory lines churning out the world’s supply of medical safety gear — sparking fears the country is preparing for a second wave of the coronavirus, American traders in China told The Post.

New Yorker Moshe Malamud, who has done business in China for over two decades, was moving tens of millions of pieces of protective gear to the U.S. at the height of the crisis but said suppliers in recent weeks had been overwhelmed with orders from the Chinese government.

“I was placing a larger order with one of the bigger distributors and he tells me, ‘I can complete this order but after this we’ve been contracted by the Chinese government to produce 250 million gowns,'” said Malamud, who lived in China for a decade before founding aviation company M2Jets.

He said he heard a similar story about another manufacturer making thermometers.

“We hear how China is up and running and the virus is past them, so I asked, ‘What are they ordering 250 million gowns for?’ and of course no one is talking.”

Source: China seizes control of PPE factories, sparking fear of new coronavirus wave

We are required to wear masks in order to enter any store—so 100% wear masks. Not so many in the parks, though.

We have plenty of toilet paper and paper towels in places like Costco.

Re: Masks. My wife told me that a different home improvement store in town apparently requires that 100% of people who enter wear masks otherwise you can't enter. It's not a rule mandated by the state though. The governor of Minnesota is catching flack because he's allowed up to 50 people in restaurants now but maintains that only 10 people can be in a church at one time. The Catholic bishops of Minnesota have put out a letter stating that as of Tuesday May 26th, they will be openly defying the governor and will instruct their priests to open up the churches again if the priests so choose. The bishops have said that allowing up to 50 people in restaurants but disallowing people more than ten to congregate in churches, and cathedrals, some of which can seat over 1,000 people is preposterous and discriminatory.

Hertz preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Friday night- WSJ

Hertz Global Holdings Inc is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Friday night after failing to reach a standstill agreement with its top lenders, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/2A4ONKs, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Estero, Florida-based company, which operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty car-rental brands, had been holding talks with creditors after skipping significant car-lease payments due in April.

Forbearance and waiver agreements on the missed payments were set to expire on Friday.

https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/ ... -night-wsj

Nobody can sit in any sort of restaurant in NYC, period.

It’s totally “takeout” only.

Not even in a bagel shop.