Yes. I have said so on many occasions.
I needed a few things from CVS the other day. I went online and got the item number. Then I called my local CVS and placed the order. I was asked when I wanted to pick it up. I said 1/2 hour.
I pulled car into drive thru, gave my name and took my order. They will deliver also.
Couldn’t be easier.
@Midwest67
I’m sending my best for you and for him. I am hoping we keep our jobs as well. It is scary all around.
I think some of you are missing the key point that many, many people don’t have credit and shop on a cash only basis. For that matter, there are many without computers! They rely on cash and physical stores. Not everyone lives the entitled lives that we do. I have a dear friend who has some mental illness. She lives in Section 8 housing and is on welfare (or whatever we call it now). She barely makes it (her own fault in many ways) from payment to payment. She doesn’t know how to use a computer or smart phone. There is no online ordering. She has no car. She shops with cash or her Target debit card.
I guess under some of the rules here livestock and pet food stores are not essential? Do we just let the animals all die? And vet meds? A lot of thought and debate went into what was classified as “essential.” We may or may not agree with all of it, and it varied by state and even county. Now retailers who were non-essential, such as Macy’s and Ulta, are permitted to open with guidelines. It is up to each individual whether he or she feels comfortable shopping at these places.
@suzyQ7 Thank you! It sounds like it is a lot more accurate than I thought. Not super but not bad at all, actually. I do get what you are saying about the accuracy. I don’t know how I would get a different test and the doctor already wrote the script for the Quest. Seems reasonably accurate.
If you ask someone what s/he considers “essential”, the answer will probably be what s/he uses, but often excluding many things that others consider “essential” for the same reason.
One criteria is whether the item can be regarded as life-sustaining. (Reminder that I have worked with these Orders in 49 states for the last 2 months- night and day.) And, yes, Target, Walmart et al sells things that are NOT life-sustaining but most places didn’t have the resources to police what customers were permitted to purchase. Some places did restrict the sales to essential items.
What they say about models is that all of them are wrong, some of them are useful. It is impossible to know what will happen this summer and fall. One of the many models is right, but no one can say which.
I try not to nitpick exactly where the line is drawn between businesses that can be open and businesses that can’t be open, because I know it’s super-hard to draw lines. There will always be inequity right at the edge. Plus, sometimes there isn’t time to come up with the absolute best placement of the line.
IMO, it was better to have the large closings than not to have them. If a government gets it mostly right, that’s about all we can expect.
What we need(ed) was a national policy on what is essential and can be open. We couldn’t even get general guidelines. So, it’s all been terribly bungled (as has the reopening) and we will pay a very steep price for this ineptitude.
The next shut down will be much stricter than the one we just went through. It will last longer, too.
I have 3 full time employees that I had to loan to someone else the last 2 months in order to keep them employed. They are now unemployed and I don’t see any hope for work for several weeks.
These guys are in the category of living paycheck to paycheck. Only one received a stimulus check because the other 2 refuse to be “in the system”. They do not have computers. They do not have Internet. They barely have cell phones. Despite me showing them how they could do everything online, they don’t trust anything. They literally go into cell phone stores monthly to pay their bill, they go into insurance shops to pay their car insurance, insist on going into the DMV and stand in line. It’s a constant source of befuddlement to me because they always have to take a day off to go stand at the DMV!!
During this crisis I can see how they are at such a disadvantage. They are not in the system well, cannot order anything and have it delivered, cannot figure out how to pay for things when service companies are closed, etc. They don’t have enough savings to go stock up on 3 weeks of groceries.
Last week I had to have each of them come over to my house and sit in my office so I could sign them up for Unemployment Benefits online. They have no way to check the status, just crossing my fingers they get a debit card in the mail.
So, these are examples of people who cannot hide in their homes using the Internet to happily survive.
Why do you stay?
I asked med school lad what update he had from “reopening.” He said the doctors there feel more confident now because they learned a lot the first time around - more about the disease, what treatments seem to work, and how to protect themselves. They feel if things go slowly, it can be ok. However, they shudder when they see “idiots” out there doing it all wrong (crowds in bars and that sort of thing).
He was also told that if (when in their opinion) the second wave comes they will not be sending med school students home this time because they know more about what is going on and how to handle it.
Many classes are still online with a “patient” component. Resident interviews (he’s 4th year now) will be online/phone (bummer for him because he won’t get to look at places). Still up in the air is what’s going to happen with the STEP II CS test (a previously mandatory test only offered in 5 places across the US). He was supposed to take his in early July in LA.
Out of it all, I like hearing the doctors feel more confident. Like them, I wish there were fewer “idiots.” It would give the country better odds. The doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are the ones putting their lives on the line trying to save folks.
Tomorrow’s print NYTimes front page is 1000 names of COVID19 victims. Sobering to realize that there would need to be 95+ pages to name everyone who has died.
Also, I met with a group of 30 some pastors this past week. No one is in a rush to begin meeting in their buildings, although some are feeling social pressure. Their churches are all over the Pacific Northwest. Those in rural Idaho and Montana may begin gathering in groups of 50 or so next week. Those in Seattle aren’t even talking about an opening date. We talked a lot about whether meeting without being able to sing or to hug was worth it. Lots of churches/pastors want to take this slowly. They know their congregations are full of vulnerable people and for the most part things have gone remarkably well online.
@Creekland ^^^ It’s time like this when I wish we could push more than one button.
I think staying at home, social distancing when out, and wearing masks may be the only reason for progress with stats. If we stop staying at home, but still social distance and wear masks, it may still help a lot. If we just wear masks, we’ll see…
I can’t remember where I saw this comment, but the best one I saw regarding essential businesses went something like this: “Any business that helps someone put food on the table is essential to that person.”
The feds (DHS) do have an list of what states/local communities should consider as essential. But, as the list only provides ‘guidance’, states have the flexibility to use or ignore. (federalism)
I am stunned that there are middle aged adults who do not realize that millions of people can’t order things for delivery online. A real weakness in our education system is that people can graduate high school and not have any understanding of the lives of their fellow citizens.
@cinnamon1212, I am in San Diego and our Craft Distillers Guild got together early on and got FDA approval to formulate hand sanitizer. At first they were donating to hospitals and first responders, but now are selling it. A couple distilleries sent out notices to their email lists to swing by for a free 4oz bottle. The one I went to had a table set up outside. I bought a half gallon of hand sanitizer and a bottle of vodka. Maybe you could do something like this?
There are middle aged adults who don’t realize many basic things. Like, the importance of wearing a mask. The importance of a quarantine during a pandemic. Exponential spread of a virus. And they don’t realize this after MONTHS of discussion everywhere: on tv, social media, newspapers, you name it.