Covid-19

[Big Insect]

There are people bidding on single loo rolls on eBay as I type this  

Up in Berkeley and Stroud there are people filling sand-bags and singing The White Cliffs of Dover ...
Hmmm, so that is where all the toilet-rolls are going - along with:

eggs
tinned vegetables
tinned fish
dried pasta/rice etc (as long as its not gluten free stuff - there's a surplus of that)
any thing which has the word anti-bacterial printed on it
bars of chocolate
dishwasher tablets
peanut butter (why oh why)
white sliced loaves

(in fact if there was a real wartime emergency most of the population of Britain would die of scurvy rather than Covid-19)

I went to Sainsbury's* in Bedminster (Bristol) this morning early - as we'd run out of a Camden Terrace staple (cat fud - ideally fish in jelly or chicken in gravy) - and it looked like the super market was about to hit the zombie apocalypse.
I was confronted by empty shelves, aisles littered with discarded plastic wrappings and empty cardboard boxes, bemused store staff and, in the coffee aisle, a youngish bloke in a face-mask waving a stick telling everybody to keep away from him, as he filled his trolley with at least a dozen large jars of instant coffee, on top of a massive stock of nappies and multi-pack bags of Quavers. I think he was reassured when I slowly moved to lift the last bag of Taylors Lazy Sunday deCaffe ground coffee from the shelf nearby. Clearly I was not competition.
There was nobody in the fruit & vegetable section that was fully stocked.

When I asked about loo-rolls the assistant smiled and said that they were queuing outside before 07.00 when the store opened - as some 'wag' had put a note on face-book saying they'd seen an Andrex lorry pull up at the store after closing on Sunday afternoon - but it was 'false news' as they'd not had a delivery of loo-roll since last Wednesday.
Hey ho ... looks like the plan to be planting cabbages as an organic bi-degradable alternative loo-paper is sound - but I'm not sure we can wait for 6 months as they grow before we'll need them!
Lord knows what it is like in Waitrose** in Stroud! There's probably a policy there of asking customers (very politely of course) to leave their shotguns in the bins provided near the door (or at very least to take the cartridges out whilst shopping)!

All complete madness - but I can see a gaming opportunity here in the future maybe.

But seriously, I am now officially in defensive isolation, working at home, not signing for packages from the postman etc. due to my own health situation & that of my 89 year old mother-in-law.  

NB: Have you all seen the 2011 movie - Contagion? Very good caste and also very much a precursor to the current pandemic. In fact the film starts with an ill bat dropping to the ground and being eaten by a piglet, that then gets eaten by Gwyneth Paltrow (her from Sliding Doors and the Avenger/Iron Man films) ... who ends up as patient No.1
Well worth watching if you can get a copy.

PS: I am off now to stick tape on the windows and put up a warning barrier at the end of the garden path.

[LEGEND: Sainsbury's* = mid-range grocery store/supermarket; Waitrose** up-market grocery store; Bedminster = not so posh bit of Bristol; Stroud = hippy bit of Gloucestershire with a Waitrose catering for all the big posh land-owning houses around Stroud]

[mmcv]

Is it morbid that I just ordered Plague, Inc the board game? I also ordered Pandemic though so that probably balances out...

[Ithoriel]

[LEGEND: Sainsbury's* = mid-range grocery store/supermarket; Waitrose** up-market grocery store

LEGEND: Sainsbury's: a supermarket that exists to keep the riff-raff out of Waitrose

FIFY

[Big Insect]

We managed to get a packet of loo-rolls from a local £1 shop ... they had stacks of the stuff.
Nice to support a small local trader 

[Sunray]

We managed to get a packet of loo-rolls from a local £1 shop ... they had stacks of the stuff.
Nice to support a small local trader 

Spoke to a source well placed in government.

The real crunch will come when the virus hits the HGV driver demographic.  With demise the railways we depend on the big lorries for delivering 99% of retail commodities and fuel.

Now the HGV driver demographic are in general overweight and not at peak fitness.

At that point the MoD/Armed Forces  will be ordered to commandeer and drive.

The Irish Government is even considering reverting to its NBW war plan from the 1980s and the Executive arm retreating to lock down in Dublin Castle.

However the fear from the data coming out of China  is that there is a hint  that humans can test positive twice  for C19.
That could scupper the Herd immunity theory if confirmed.

[steve_holmes_11]

LEGEND: Sainsbury's: a supermarket that exists to keep the riff-raff out of Waitrose

FIFY

It's always a chuckle watching the Quasquai (sp?) ladies drive across to Aldi for their groceries (Waitrose bags of course) once they've finished their free coffee at the mothership.

[Techno]

Well, given the recent Government update, I and my son are going to have to self isolate for around 12 weeks as we are in the 'at risk' groups. It will be hard for him due to his Autism, but at least he understands why, which is good.
So I hope these drastic but IMHO sensible measures can reduce the impact of this virus, to ultimately keep us all safe.

Good luck, Steve. ....Trust all goes well !

We managed to get a packet of loo-rolls from a local £1 shop ... they had stacks of the stuff.
Nice to support a small local trader 

I think the little independent 'corner' shops will be a good source of stuff, Mark.

The real crunch will come when the virus hits the HGV driver demographic.  With demise the railways we depend on the big lorries for delivering 99% of retail commodities and fuel.
Now the HGV driver demographic are in general overweight and not at peak fitness. At that point the MoD/Armed Forces  will be ordered to commandeer and drive.
However the fear from the data coming out of China  is that there is a hint  that humans can test positive twice  for C19.
That could scupper the Herd immunity theory if confirmed.

Interesting points, James....I hadn't considered the army getting called on if there are distribution problems. Fingers firmly crossed it doesn't get anything like as bad as that !!

My only other thought at the moment is that this all seems a bit surreal.

As Von and I are fairly well isolated anyway...we don't see many folk on the road (hah!) ...So we won't notice much in the way of "Where's everyone gone ?"...But it still feels weird !!

Cheers - Phil

[Steve J]

On the local news last night they showed Bristol City Centre at 8.00am and it was deserted, with barely and traffic or pedestrians. Off to do a small shop for some standard items (no hoarding) ans it will be interesting to see what it's like...

[Techno]

Yep.....That'll be interesting, Steve.

And I forgot ......Happy St Patrick's day to all our chums in, and from, the Emerald Isle......That I imagine IS going to feel strange this year.

Cheers - Phil.

[Sunray]

Thanks Phil.  My RBL Club has cancelled Ranger Day with the shamrocks, Irish Stew, Bushmills whiskey et al.  I am making a few welfare calls today with old and bold comrades who live alone. I miss the comradeship and the "criac".

I was due to go to Fort Bragg this April for the Special Forces Spring Fling.  Its off, and a SKYPE last night with old mate (ex- Green Beret) in Tennessee  tells me that the Americans are queuing up to buy ...........Guns! 

[Norm]

I am at the hospital getting bloods test (not Corvid related). I arrived first ...... how come I am number 8!

Thank you fellow users! The same people no doubt who empty shop shelves.

The good news is that everyone is looking at their phones because we stopped talking to each other years ago

On a brighter note everyone is using the hospital hand gel pump,

On the flip side,  same people are then rubbing eyes and playing with their ears!

The staff as always are amazing - thank you.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Norm the answer to that is complain - same thing was happening to me till the patient relations group stepped in.

IanS

[Steve J]

Well just got back and ASDA was chaos and had been since 7.00am (I got there just after 8.00am). I only needed a birthday card as I can't travel to see my Dad. Lidl the same and they were queueing out of the car park before it opened and apparently had a 70% increase on footfall. Iceland busy as well. I only really had to go out to get food for our son who has a very regimented eating regime and his stock items had run out. If you wanted fresh fruit and veg there was loads all pretty much untouched. Sheer madness.

[Matt J]

Word of caution on this.
I wasn't taking the whole thing that seriously until a conversation with my brother yesterday (Biology student and had a career in computer modelling for an offshore US betting company in Curacao - I think he worked for the CIA really). I said it was just a nasty form of flu and this whole thing was hysteria. He said 'just look at the stats, I have and this thing is really bad'. So I looked at the stats. Its really bad....

As of yesterday 175,000 cases, 6700 deaths, mortality rate 3.8%, so bad enough but mostly China, poor health care blah, blah. Look at resolved cases ie the person recovered or they died the mortality rate is 8%!
Of the 175,000 cases so far half are unresolved with many thousands in intensive care and critical and these are mostly EU cases.

Then look at the demographic. As we all know the over 70's are at greatest risk. Take this country, 13% of the population are over 70. A rather simplistic way at looking at it, but say you have 1,000 cases and the virus isn't picky about the age of those it infects, 130 are going to be over 70. Then you have mortality rate of 8%, 80 deaths predominantly in the 130 over 70's.......

This thing is the grim reaper come early.

My mother and mother-in-law are both on lock down as of now. If you are over 70 or have an underlying compromising condition please heed government advise and go to ground.

Take care all.

[Big Insect]

At risk of sounding like a scratched record (see earlier Covid-19 posts)

In the 18/19 Flu season - in the UK - there were 17,000 deaths associated with Flu. In the USA that was 69,000 deaths in the same flu season.  
TBF I have not researched the % deaths or the numbers who actually contracted Flu (in 18/19) and what % they were of the overall populations, but it would be really interesting to see some official stats on that.
I am not trying to belittle the issues - every death is a tragedy - but putting things in context might just help easy public anxieties.

The thing is, that we have 'normalised' Flu deaths - just like a herd of wildebeest - we watch lions take down the weaker herd members and rationalise it as "not being us, so its ok" and carry on with our ordinary life (grazing).
The issue with Covid-19 is that as yet we do not know if it is the same as 'ordinary' flu or as bad as the H1N1 1918 - Spanish flu) that killed c.50 million people worldwide (that we know about). But H1N1 is still about. It is still just as contagious, still just as deadly - but we are now much more aware about it and have processes to deal with it. If you know your enemy you can defeat it.

The big issue/danger here is the unknown or the ignorance factors - such as "can you re-catch Covid-19"? If so are you going to get just as ill as you did 1st time around or less or more ill.
Why do some people only get really mild symptoms (so hardly notice they have it) and some people (even relatively healthy people) get severe symptoms.

Our diet is mainly fresh fruit and vegetable these days - so as long as the supply chains hold up we'll be ok. If it goes on a while we've got our allotment - and this year our planting plan is a lot more intensive and planned than last season ... in response to the CV-19 challenge. We can probably keep my mum-in-law, both daughters & their families, my sister in law and us going with fresh fruit & vegetables if necessary. Especially as it looks like I wont be working at full capacity for some time to come.

"we'll meet again ... don't know where ... don't know when ... etc. etc. etc fades away into background music"