Prepping for Coronavirus

[Pool Boy]

I know I am in the minority. But I had Lyme disease about 8 years ago. Ever since, colds and flus are.....worse. Pneumonia. Bronchitis. Ugh.

I was at the grocery store this weekend and decided to stock up. Soups. Broths. Grains. Lentils. Other shelf stable substances that would not require a grocery store visit and thus avoid people.

I know. Paranoia. But still, I have to take precautions given my ody's ability to fight off unusual viruses, colds and infections.

Is anyone else stocking up or am I the only loonie?

[DonRocks]

23 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

I know I am in the minority. But I had Lyme disease about 8 years ago. Ever since, colds and flus are.....worse. Pneumonia. Bronchitis. Ugh.

I was at the grocery store this weekend and decided to stock up. Soups. Broths. Grains. Lentils. Other shelf stable substances that would not require a grocery store visit and thus avoid people.

I know. Paranoia. But still, I have to take precautions given my ody's ability to fight off unusual viruses, colds and infections.

Is anyone else stocking up or am I the only loonie?

Youŕe not a loonie. We bought some frozen (and fresh-froze some) food today ourselves - not only because the freezer needed it, but in the event where we'd need to be in for a week or so.

Nothing paranoid about it, and truth be told, nothing lost if you purchase intelligently.

[MarkS]

We are generally overstocked.  Next trip to Sam's club will pick up more paper towels, napkins and toilet paper.  Beer fridge has a few cases of beer and wine cellar is over full.  Party on.

[weezy]

Not paranoid.  Even with delivery services, trucks don't run if the drivers aren't available to drive them.  I've got a packed freezer and plenty of jars of stuff, but in the next week or so will probably add in extra TP, tissues, frozen fruit juice concentrate, dried beans, dry yeast and some extra flour in case I need to bake bread, plus double check I've got a full load of salt.  And maybe some tetrapak milk.

[Pool Boy]

Keep the ideas flowing - I did not think about paper products and flour, salt and booze. Gah!

[deangold]

I have lots of noodle cups: seafood noodle, kimchi rames, udon, somen. Canned beans. Lots of tuna, smoked fish, crackers. We have soda siphons to make beverages and we have Korean drinking vinegar which can go in soda water for a soft drink. We mostly drink coffee & water. We still have loads of booze from the Grotto augmented with more than a few gins. Lot of cocktail onions & stuffed olives. 

[Bart]

11 hours ago, deangold said:

I have lots of noodle cups: seafood noodle, kimchi rames, udon, somen. Canned beans. Lots of tuna, smoked fish, crackers. We have soda siphons to make beverages and we have Korean drinking vinegar which can go in soda water for a soft drink. We mostly drink coffee & water. We still have loads of booze from the Grotto augmented with more than a few gins. Lot of cocktail onions & stuffed olives. 

The only key ingredient you left out is your address. 

[Tweaked]

Also, not a bad time to check on your prescription drug supplies. 

[deangold]

23 minutes ago, Tweaked said:

Also, not a bad time to check on your prescription drug supplies. 

Unfortunately, our profit driven insurance industry will not let you have a stockpile for emergencies. 

[deangold]

1 hour ago, Bart said:

The only key ingredient you left out is your address. 

HMart Fairfax
11200 Fairfax Blvd., Fairfax, VA 22030

😏

[Tweaked]

46 minutes ago, deangold said:

Unfortunately, our profit driven insurance industry will not let you have a stockpile for emergencies. 

Most major health insurance providers and Medicare have home delivery options for regularly used prescriptions which allow for 90 or 100 day prescription refills.     

[Bart]

2 hours ago, Tweaked said:

Also, not a bad time to check on your prescription drug supplies. 

The word "prescription" seems unnecessary. 

[Tweaked]

11 minutes ago, Bart said:

The word "prescription" seems unnecessary. 

One wouldn't want to run out of medical edibles.

[Lydia R]

KUOW, the Seattle NPR station, posted a recipe for hand sanitizer - just in case you come across barren store shelves.

They specify two-thirds 99% alcohol and discounted subbing cheap vodka (<50% alcohol). The one-third aloe vera gel or vegetable glycerin protects your skin from completely desiccating and flaking-off. 

https://www.kuow.org/stories/purell-is-low-in-seattle-how-to-make-your-own-hand-sanitizer

[Pat]

3 hours ago, Tweaked said:

Most major health insurance providers and Medicare have home delivery options for regularly used prescriptions which allow for 90 or 100 day prescription refills.     

Hello, US health insurance. CVS will do the 3 month refills at the store as well. Our mail service can be wacky, so I'd rather go to the drugstore than get it by mail.

I had made an appointment with my fairly new PCP about a month ago to go in for a short check-in and prescription refill. With this person and her predecessor, I had been getting an rx for 4 - 90 day fills of my prescription. Everything went great. She sent the rx over. When I went to pick up a new 3-month supply at my neighborhood CVS, I was told my insurance company would not let me fill it yet. I still have about 3 weeks left on the last 90 days. Given what it costs with insurance, I'm not going to pay it for it all so I can have it now.

I had felt lucky to have an appointment set up when I did so I wouldn't have to go into the doctor's office further into the epidemic (plus whatever else is going around and seems to be making lots of people sick). I also wanted to get the drugstore visit over with and make sure the supply of the drug didn't run out. Now I have to go back to the drugstore in a week to get the prescription, which is ready for me to pick up. I cannot imagine how this medication could possibly be abused, so the limitation is weird, but I guess it's an insurance thing.

On the groceries, I typically keep pretty well-stocked. Since our local Trader Joe's opened, I've gotten to picking up a lot more there and doing big trips to Giant and Whole Foods less frequently. I just did a big trip yesterday. I bought maybe 1/4  to 1/5 more than I would typically buy. I keep a small amount of canned soup on hand, for instance. I was out  of that and bought five cans instead of two. I bought more frozen vegetables even though my supply hasn't gotten down as low as it would usually be before I bought more. I picked up some extra bottled water. I had some hand sanitizer but checked anyway and both stores I went to were completely out.  I picked up some more bar soup and Lysol wipes, even though we have a moderate amount already. That's about it. I don't think preparing is crazy at all. Just so long as people aren't gobbling up all the supplies so there's none for anyone else.

 

[Pat]

4 hours ago, deangold said:

Unfortunately, our profit driven insurance industry will not let you have a stockpile for emergencies. 

Ah, you're the person I should have replied to with the comment I made on drug refills. I missed this when I read through the thread.

[saf]

8 hours ago, deangold said:

Unfortunately, our profit driven insurance industry will not let you have a stockpile for emergencies. 

This makes me insane. I take thyroid meds. I NEED them. But no, I can't refill until I am almost out. And so, vacations require groveling to the insurance company to get the refills a week early. And emergencies don't exist in their world.

[lion]

I don't think prepping for healthcare or environmental issues these days is loonie behavior. 

Last weekend, we did a bit more than the regular Sunday shopping which amounted to adding on our weekly, bi-weekly and monthly trips, since that is how we prioritize, i.e. fresh fruits, vegetables, & meats; soups & breads; and household supplies such as toliet paper & towel paper, etc...Probably maxed out those categories for 3-4 weeks with frozen items.  

Being prudent or prepared seems like simply a good safety precaution. 

Simply washing your hands over the course of the day five times can reduce respiratory illnesses 45%. 

One modern day era thing most people forget is to clean their cellphones. Studies have shown they are a major problem with accumulating germs. 

 

 

[genericeric]

I work for an organization that deals with disaster response and recovery.  A few months before coronavirus was a thing, someone asked the CEO at a staff meeting what their biggest fear was.  I was expecting something about upcoming financial planning, expenses, board meetings, etc.  The response was that Americans as a whole are woefully unprepared for a disaster or other disruption to our daily lives.  Most people don't have enough prescription drugs, only have a few days worth of food, drive on an empty tank of gas, etc.

We should all try to keep a week or two of food and water on hand.  If possible, extra prescription drugs.  Ask ourselves, what could I not live without for a week, and then stock up on that.  There's a big difference between being a star on next season's doomsday prep show and being smart about protecting yourself and your family.

I have small kids so we have formula, baby foods, kids medicines, diapers, etc.  Paid out of pocket for 30 days of a medication that is required daily to sustain life (I realize not everyone can do that, its not cheap).  Food that we would normally eat anyway, but kept in case its needed for a few months.  Then we eat it and restock.  

Of course I also keep at least three cases of spare wine on hand at all times.  Think of it as cellaring.  🙂

[Ericandblueboy]

Question, are you prepping to avoid getting the virus or are you prepping to not spread the virus after you get it?   If you're prepping for the former, you need to stock up and lock yourself in now.  If you're prepping for the latter, then you're just being a nice human being, but you can get groceries delivered these days.  

I have a few cans of soup.  

[deangold]

2 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

you can get groceries delivered these days.  

In case of a bad outbreak, there might be a shortage of delivery service drivers. 

[Ericandblueboy]

You can live for weeks without food.  Lose some weight in the process.

ETA - Didn’t mean to be snarky but it creeps in after drinks.

[genericeric]

9 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Question, are you prepping to avoid getting the virus or are you prepping to not spread the virus after you get it?   If you're prepping for the former, you need to stock up and lock yourself in now.  If you're prepping for the latter, then you're just being a nice human being, but you can get groceries delivered these days.  

I have a few cans of soup.  

My point was more that we should all be ready for a disruption in our daily lives for a few days or weeks. 

6 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

You can live for weeks without food.  Lose some weight in the process.

I’m not sure how my kid would do without formula and I’m very sure how my wife would do without medicine, but you do you.

[ktmoomau]

I went to a big event in Fairfax this past weekend.  It was REALLY interesting to see how people did.  Some people were fist bumping, some waving without offering a hand. Some people were still shaking hands, and some still hugging.  But it was funny to see people gauge their level of worry and level of acquaintance in such fashion.  The attendance was certainly down from a normal year, still a big event, but... 

I feel bad for people like my SIL with a depressed immune system, and other SIL who literally just had a baby.  They are running up against shortages of things like hand sanitizer, rationing at Costco, etc.  They are people who have a lot more reason to worry.  My one SIL won't have to worry about an unstocked freezer luckily!  

I do think people though have so much more in their pantry that they just don't use, and waste so much food in general, that having to cook down some pantry reserves might end up teaching them a thing or two.  When we were moving and I cooked down my pantry and freezer, we had a ton of meals.  Maybe a bit interesting in pairings, I did a lot of searching on pinterest with several ingredients to see what they came up with.  But my Mom says I live like I survived the great depression- I really am not cool with food waste. 

I don't think it is bad per se to prepare for a disaster, especially having some non-perishables, being smart about medication refills, etc.  But I think there is also a whole lot of unneccessary paranoia right now in odd ways that are affecting people/business who really need the supplies.  And I think Americans aren't good at also knowing how to preserve food so that the food they buy doesn't get wasted when the disaster doesn't happen or happens at a later time then they foresaw.  Or knowing how to buy and cook the right types of food for that type of preparedness.  I foresee people having huge amounts of unused hand santiizer and rice for the next year.  

I think we have forgotten a lot of things that our past generations learned during the depression/war effort that would help in times of emergency and otherwise. 

[astrid]

For anyone who still thinks this is just a bad flu.

 

 

This is from one of the best prepared places in the world, in terms of free access to quality healthcare and social cohesion.  Remember that we live in the land of gig workers and hospital balance billing.

[Pool Boy]

I worked from home most of this week. I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We continue to stockpile things in the freezer as well as shelf stable things. I am slightly embarrassed as to how large my grocery tab was last weekend. 

The only reason I am keenly focused on this is that, well, I got Lyme disease about 8 years ago. Ever since then, any time I get a cold it transforms in to something much worse. Case in point, About a month ago, my wife and I both caught the same thing within a day or two of each other probably from the same source. She got over it from beginning to end in about a week with no trip to the doctor. It took me two visits to the doc, two rounds of antibiotics, a declaration of 'hey this time it is not pneumonia!', a round of steroids and three weeks to get over it.

I say this all too, in that I have no confidence in the leadership of this country and its ability to deal with this pandemic. I would normally have some hope, but not with this current in denial administration. Clearly the rest of the world thinks the same damn thing.

Good luck everyone.

[Pat]

I've been stopping periodically in Trader Joe's at Eastern Market to pick up things here and there. Today I had a couple of medical appointments downtown and had planned for this to be my last day out really interacting with people for as long as it needs to be. I stopped at the market and Trader Joe's on the way home. They were out of sliced bread, dairy, yellow onions, many types of cereal, plastic produce bags...you get the idea. It's the first day I've been in there when there have been any significant gaps on the shelves and there were a whole lot of them. It looked like a blizzard was imminent. (I got a half loaf of sliced bread and a few yellow onions at Eastern Market. While TJ's had a long line, they were pretty deserted across 7th street.)

I'm glad the state and local governments have been stepping up. They've got a big gap to fill, bigger than any of those on the store shelves.

And good luck to everyone.

[Ericandblueboy]

I think the people who feel vulnerable should stay home, stock up and have food delivered when necessary.  Everyone else should live their normal lives.  Staying at home for work but still going out for other reasons will just delay the inevitable.  You’re just as likely to get sick from a grocery store as at the office.

[Ericandblueboy]

Fairfax just closed public schools tomorrow.

[astrid]

3 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I think the people who feel vulnerable should stay home, stock up and have food delivered when necessary.  Everyone else should live their normal lives.  Staying at home for work but still going out for other reasons will just delay the inevitable.  You’re just as likely to get sick from a grocery store as at the office.

Hell no.  Younger people without risk factors are not immune, just somewhat less likely to require hospitalization when infected.  They can still get it and spread it to others. And some of them will still get very sick and strain hospital resources at a very bad time.  And infection spread in the US at this point likely means that what's happening in Italy right now is likely inevitable in 10 days.  The tens or hundreds of thousands of infections already happened, they just aren't symptomic or very sick yet.  If you do get infected and very sick after this point, you likely will not make it due to lack of ICU beds.

 

If you have the opportunity to social distance and you do not, you're contributing to the problem.  I would also argue that it's now too late for panic shopping.  That was last week when the risks of infection appeared lower.  Just eat down what's in your pantry now and make a bulk additional order of groceries for delivery.  Yes, someone is still putting themselves at risk, but it's restricted to one person and gives them some income for the rough times ahead.  Tip any delivery generously and then wash your hands vigorously, they're putting their lives on the line doing their jobs.

 

I say that as I am forced into the office for a set of meetings on Friday.  Most of them got moved (with my prompting) to virtual, but somebody decided they felt healthy enough to keep the in person and I don't have the power to say no.  Which means extra days of self imposed quarantine next week to minimize exposure to more vulnerable family members.

[Bart]

14 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

I say this all too, in that I have no confidence in the leadership of this country and its ability to deal with this pandemic. I would normally have some hope, but not with this current in denial administration. Clearly the rest of the world thinks the same damn thing.

Reading the above made me think of this line from a Post article from a week ago:

“We have contained this,” POTUS economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC the last week of February. “I won’t say airtight, but it’s close to airtight.”

The article, linked below discussed how the POTUS administration botched the response to this.  It was from last Saturday and since then the only thing they have done is banned foreign nationals from entering the country...…..like American travelers are somehow immune.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/POTUS-coronavirus-response-squandered-time/2020/03/07/5c47d3d0-5fcb-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html

 

Another fun fact:  Two weeks ago, on Feb 28 POTUS called the virus a hoax. 

[weezy]

Falls Church City schools closed until April 14.

 

[Ericandblueboy]

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/13/815502262/flattening-a-pandemics-curve-why-staying-home-now-can-save-lives

Staying home is a delaying tactic that presumably will save lives because those who do get sick will hopefully be able to get treatment.  What I'm not seeing is any solution to this problem.  Is the hope to delay this until a vaccine is discovered?  

[Rhone1998]

8 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/13/815502262/flattening-a-pandemics-curve-why-staying-home-now-can-save-lives

Staying home is a delaying tactic that presumably will save lives because those who do get sick will hopefully be able to get treatment.  What I'm not seeing is any solution to this problem.  Is the hope to delay this until a vaccine is discovered?  

Delaying it *is* the best current solution to the problem, until there’s a vaccine or effective anti-viral meds. There’s a huge difference in outcomes if the million people (I’m making that number up) who will require hospitalization from this show up over six months vs six weeks. 

[Pat]

48 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I'm not seeing is any solution to this problem.  Is the hope to delay this until a vaccine is discovered?  

There really isn't a solution to the problem. That's the reason for all the urgency. The first step was containment, which the US couldn't do effectively since we didn't have functional testing. Then we moved on to mitigation, which crucially centers on not overwhelming the healthcare system, which would happen if a huge percentage of the population needed care at once. It also involves building surge capacity for hospitals, ensuring medical providers have sufficient PPE, and things like that.

Since it's unclear, other than in a few obvious hot spots, exactly where the virus is, it's safest to assume it's everywhere. That's why everything everywhere has to be locked down and people need to stop circulating to try to prevent the virus from attaching itself to more hosts. People (including children) who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic are spreading it.

There's no way to get a vaccine for at least a year and Fauci has said that if the virus eventually burns out (as the original SARS did) it won't be necessary. If the virus turns out to be seasonal, a vaccine will be important.

At this point, doctors are still trying to figure out treatment for this. Mostly it involves keeping people breathing by machine while their bodies try to fight it off. There's a retroviral drug, remdesivir, that's in clinical trials that some doctors have been able to get special permission to use for some cases. It's a drug designed for treating ebola that's proved ineffective for that but is showing some promise with covid-19.

At this point, I've noticed Fauci trying to get people to stop focusing on testing and I don't think it's because of who he works for. He's urgently trying to get people to move forward because testing is of limited utility now and we have bigger problems. It's almost like getting mass testing was the last battle and he's trying to get people to pay attention to what's stampeding towards us on the battlefield.

[Lydia R]

American health insurance is confusing and confounding. However, it beats not having health insurance at all.

If you’re an uninsured Maryland resident, a special open season for enrollment starts Monday March 16th (although coverage doesn’t start until April first).

www.marylandhealthconnection.gov/coronavirus-sep/

[genericeric]

Observations on how different store chains are handling the outbreak - understanding that this is likely highly regional.

Wegmans - sanitizer at the door with a sign asking all customers to please use before entering, ample cart wipes.  Substantial restrictions on quantities you can purchase, which for the most part I agree with, however I wasn't able to get enough for normal grocery shopping for three nights.  Still limited stock available, even at 6:30am.  Note - a woman in line to check out who appeared to be receiving chronic medical treatment (perhaps chemo) began to feel faint.  The Wegman's staff could not have been more kind or helpful as they completed her shopping for her while making her comfortable and offering medical assistance.  After that I heard no one else complaining about lines.

Costco - Sanitizing carts at the door, but not until after you pushed it up.  Signs out front listing what they had and what they were out of.  Frequent signs displaying what 6 feet social distance should be.  Traffic direction so that people didn't get too bunched up in line to pay.  Completely out of paper goods but had a lot of water, 2 max.  

Whole foods - the grocery delivery and pickup appeared to be booming.  Completely out of red meat, very limited produce available.  They always have cart wipes, and employees were changing gloves between each customer.

Giant - Our local giant has been almost fully stocked, lines manageable.  Canned goods, paper towels, water, even some toilet paper.  Yesterday morning at 6am the shelves were sparse, but they said the truck was late - saw it pulling in as I left.

Wal-Mart - no sanitizer, no wipes for carts, no food.  If they didn't sell a baby food that's hard to find, there's no reason to deal with it.

[Bart]

58 minutes ago, genericeric said:

Costco - Sanitizing carts at the door, but not until after you pushed it up.    

I had the exact same experience last week.  They sanitized the cart handle after I had been touching it to push it to the door. 

Brilliant plan that protects no one and does nothing but give a false sense of security/cleanliness. 

[DonRocks]

2 hours ago, Bart said:

I had the exact same experience last week.  They sanitized the cart handle after I had been touching it to push it to the door. 

Brilliant plan that protects no one and does nothing but give a false sense of security/cleanliness. 

Do we know that they *don't* sanitize the carts when they place them back in the rack?

As someone who has never (literally, never) used hand santizer - what does it do, exactly? I've always wondered about the efficacy of over-the-counter "antibacterial" agents - even Bactroban (available only by prescription) doesn't seem to do much. Unless Purell, et al, actually *kill* bacteria, don't they merely "rub them around" on your hands? Or maybe the gelatinous nature provides a barrier that prevents new bacteria (on cart handles, for example) from taking hold? At least washing your hands with hot water might have a chance of flushing them (the bacteria; not your hands) down the drain, but that's just gravity at work. And I guaran-fucking-tee that Purell doesn't kill coronavirus.

[astrid]

You could grab the wipe to use on your hands at the door.  Alcohol based hand sanitizer and wipes are not very effective anyways, they take minutes to work on a surface, so they dry out before sanitizing the surface.  Why are idiots out there acting as though hand sanitizer is going to protect them from this thing?  If that's the case, why did so many hospital workers, who have years of training at washing their hands before and after every procedure, getting infected?

But this is probably the absolute worst moment to panic shop.  The infections are already in the populace, supplies are low, and people haven't adapted to the new sanitation regime.  No matter what comes, they'll likely to keep grocery stores open for the foreseeable future.  Better to wait at home and drink tap water, unless you live in Flint.

Unless they get a UBI measure passed soon for the duration of the emergency, I would be a lot more worried about personal security.  There are a small number of preppers who long ago decided guns are the solution to their personal resource scarcity problems, and a larger number who are so desperate that they are going to do anything they can to survive.  Martial law wasn't necessary in PRC, RoK, or Italy.  It may well be here.  

[genericeric]

46 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Do we know that they *don't* sanitize the carts when they place them back in the rack?

As someone who has never (literally, never) used hand santizer - what does it do, exactly? I've always wondered about the efficacy of over-the-counter "antibacterial" agents - even Bactroban (available only by prescription) doesn't seem to do much. Unless Purell, et al, actually *kill* bacteria, don't they merely "rub them around" on your hands? Or maybe the gelatinous nature provides a barrier that prevents new bacteria (on cart handles, for example) from taking hold? At least washing your hands with hot water might have a chance of flushing them (the bacteria; not your hands) down the drain, but that's just gravity at work. And I guaran-fucking-tee that Purell doesn't kill coronavirus.

I saw them push carts back into the entrance area and they weren't sanitized.

@astridis right that, if you read the back of your surface sanitizing wipes, the instructions are to let it dry before its effective.  As to Purell, I was under the impression that alcohol kills germs (hence that it be at least ~60%).  I'm not an expert - common advice received these days is to wash hands if at all possible, use Purell if not.

[DonRocks]

35 minutes ago, astrid said:

You could grab the wipe to use on your hands at the door.  Alcohol based hand sanitizer and wipes are not very effective anyways, they take minutes to work on a surface, so they dry out before sanitizing the surface.  Why are idiots out there acting as though hand sanitizer is going to protect them from this thing?  If that's the case, why did so many hospital workers, who have years of training at washing their hands before and after every procedure, getting infected?

I just found this:

"Contrary to False Posts, Sanitizer Helps against Coronavirus" by Angelo Fichera on factcheck.org

So I guess it's the alcohol that might help lessen (not eliminate; lessen) the odds of acquiring virus on your hands. In terms of hospital workers, I would think that it's analagous to the odds of dying in an airplane crash being higher if you take 100 flights instead of one.

(I have never understood the rationale of parents who insist on taking separate flights - while it might help ensure that their children aren't orphaned, it also doubles the odds that they'll lose one parent (plus it would be a massive PITA to take two flights)).

---

ETA: I just found this - it's a really good article, and relevant to touching metal surfaces.

"The Science of Soap - Here's How it Kills the Coronavirus" by Pall Thordarson on theguardian.com

PS - It may (or may not) be useful to distinguish between "bacteria" and "virus" when discussing "germs" (which include both, as well as other microorganisms).

[Bart]

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Do we know that they *don't* sanitize the carts when they place them back in the rack?

As someone who has never (literally, never) used hand santizer - what does it do, exactly?

At my Costco they were not doing any sanitization of the cart handles before you pushed your cart to the entrance.  I grabbed a cart in the parking lot at pushed it in, so I know that wasn't wiped down by anyone.  And as someone mentioned (in DR, I think), no one is sanitizing the card reader, or keypad or the pen at checkout, or a thousand other things you touch during a shopping trip, so wiping down a cart handle is just a feel good effort.

And Don - I'm with you.  I've never used the stuff.  I've been trying to buy it lately but it looks like my record will hold for a while!

[weezy]

Giant Food has instituted senior (60+) shopping hours 6-7 a.m. each day.  

[Ericandblueboy]

20 minutes ago, weezy said:

Giant Food has instituted senior (60+) shopping hours 6-7 a.m. each day.  

Grocery store employees are around people all day and some of them will likely get infected.  They will be infectious before they even know they're sick.  Telling the elderly to go shopping during senior shopping hours is a good idea or a disaster waiting to happen?

[deangold]

15 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Grocery store employees are around people all day and some of them will likely get infected.  They will be infectious before they even know they're sick.  Telling the elderly to go shopping during senior shopping hours is a good idea or a disaster waiting to happen?

It is a matter of playing percentages. Grocery employees need to take precautions. I shopped at H mart and except for check out, it was easy to maintain 6' and they were sanitizing shopping cart handles. Whole foods is putting up Plexiglas in their check out lines. 

[weezy]

18 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Grocery store employees are around people all day and some of them will likely get infected.  They will be infectious before they even know they're sick.  Telling the elderly to go shopping during senior shopping hours is a good idea or a disaster waiting to happen?

This is when the store is first opened and the heavier cleaning has just been accomplished, before the general public and the full day of shifts of workers has been in.  Like Dean said, it's reducing, not eliminating, risk for more vulnerable populations.  Like me.  over 60 and heart issues.  But I plan on using delivery options.  My problem is my prescription is through Giant and they dont' have a drive-thru pickup and the pharmacy isn't open during the senior hour.  I guess I will have to transfer it to a drive thru CVS, but I'm a special mfr's program for cost reduction and it's a PITA anytime I've moved it, but it's the difference between paying $1500 and $200 for 3 months.

[weezy]

Some info about the coronoavirus, itself, as opposed to the pandemic it is causing.  https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/biography-new-coronavirus/608338/

[Pat]

1 minute ago, weezy said:

My problem is my prescription is through Giant and they dont' have a drive-thru pickup and the pharmacy isn't open during the senior hour.

If the pharmacy opens at 7, maybe you could time it to hit that right at the end of the shopping trip?

Trying to come up with the right answers to anything right now is tricky, especially given how much everything is in flux. Maybe they'll begin opening the pharmacy earlier too if it's brought to the management's attention that this is an oversight. Even if they opened at 6:30, it could help.

[ktmoomau]

16 minutes ago, weezy said:

This is when the store is first opened and the heavier cleaning has just been accomplished, before the general public and the full day of shifts of workers has been in.  Like Dean said, it's reducing, not eliminating, risk for more vulnerable populations.  Like me.  over 60 and heart issues.  But I plan on using delivery options.  My problem is my prescription is through Giant and they dont' have a drive-thru pickup and the pharmacy isn't open during the senior hour.  I guess I will have to transfer it to a drive thru CVS, but I'm a special mfr's program for cost reduction and it's a PITA anytime I've moved it, but it's the difference between paying $1500 and $200 for 3 months.

Not sure what Giant it is at, but I think you live pretty close to me, if you need someone to go get it, and drop it at your porch, DM me and we can work it out. I am trying not to go out a lot, but happy to help you out.