Our synagogue cancelled the purim festival and is streaming services for the near future… I was supposed to give a talk to the brotherhood group at their meeting next weekend and that is cancelled. There is an annual week long wine tour. You can go to as few or as many wineries as you want, within the week., for one flat fee. Hope that isn’t cancelled!!
Just got home from a walk - felt good to do something normal. I stopped at the grocery store for a couple of items (that they didn’t have), but couldn’t believe how crowded the store was at 10am. I don’t remember seeing it like that except for maybe the Sat before Thanksgiving. What a change - I was at TJs on Mon and it wasn’t at all like this.
I think having the grandchildren speak is a lovely idea. Unfortunately we have had several deaths in our family in the last few years. The grandchildren spoke and it gave a loving, introspective to the person.
My condolences on your lost.
We were out of town and stopped at a TJ’s yesterday where there was not an item left on the bread/bagel/muffins shelf. None. Who is hoarding the crumpets?!
Also barely any fresh meat in the refrigerated section. Frozen food areas had bins upon bins fully empty.
Some lessons going on in my head (and should be in others too) about how attached we are to our “things” and that we are very privileged to have the means to have $ to buy ahead, to have a food routine where we don’t want to be without our food conveniences or food likes. I feel like overall with this hoarding people will be home eating their crumpets, favorite convenience foods and not be suffering with a plate of beans or rice.
@jym626. Same. As services online. We are doing Yellow candle packing for Yom Hashoah and no one wants to get together to pack them and send them right now plus the shul is closed for this type of activity. A Bar Mitvah was canceled but was going to be held in the person’s home but someone now has the virus… Oy!
But we had our Passover wine tasting with Kosher wines at Binnys in Chicago. Reduced pricing and no sales tax so people order cases of the selections… That was a fun night…
OK… Back to trying to find toliet paper… I am coming to someone’s house if I can’t get any today!!! ??
Chance of quarantine? Not remote. It’s wise to be prepared just in case. That doesn’t mean panic and hoard.
@Knowsstuff I am sure you have water hose…? 
My niece’s boyfriend sent photos from Sweden - totally empty shelves there too.
I think there are 2 fears - One, that you won’t feel safe going out in a week or two and will suspect that every item in the store has been coughed on by an infected person, and Two, that all the stocking up might, just might, deplete the stock of your favorite stuff. And what if it never comes back??? (cue the shrieking violins).
I’ve seen my grocery store depleted before. Yams are completely gone the week before Thanksgiving. Just a giant empty bin. Kitchen Basics chicken stock is gone in the weeks before Mardi Gras. You can still get Swanson’s, you can get Emeril’s, but you can’t get Kitchen Basics.
Meanwhile, I’m out of avocados and low on celery and may just venture out to find some. Wish me luck!
Wisconsin, this morning: The state board overseeing utilities is ordering all water, electric and natural gas utilities to stop disconnecting customers during the public health emergency period, and make attempts to reconnect anyone who has been disconnected.
No TP? There are backpacking bidets. Basically a squeeze bottle with a slanted nozzle. And best used outdoors for obvious reasons.?
Beautiful and tragic story out of China, of two young and healthy women who caught the disease and needed to be hospitalized.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/13/world/asia/coronavirus-death-life.html
I don’t know how much is panic, and how much is just stocking up. My family for instance-usually my husband is at work all day and my daughter is at high school. As of today, my husband is working from home for the foreseeable future. My daughter’s school is sending thrice daily alerts about their preparations to move to an online classroom - so I assume next week she’ll probably be home too. That means I am now going from one meal (dinner) for everyone 7 days per week, to making breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks. So just to get through one week, without anyone being sick-I am going to need a lot more groceries than normal. And we are a small family!
Now that DH and I are both home for the foreseeable future, and I know school is capable of online classroom, I wish D’s school would just call it and send them home to learn virtually. I feel bad sending her out there with all of this uncertainty. There are cases in towns around us, but not our town, and schools closed in our county, but not our town. I am also not loving that she is going out and mingling with a herd of teens and bringing those germs back to us. A friend in Princeton NJ said a lot of parents there are just keeping their kids out of school.
About hoarding…So i was chatting w a co-worker via IM, and she said she has everything to last her at least 10 months. She has always been stocking up food and supplies, this isn’t new for her, but of course with the crisis, she went crazy with the hoarding. AND she told me that she is thinking about the next winter. I was like i am trying to get through this one. So while i may run out of TP in a couple of weeks, she is waiting in line early to get TP and everything else for the NEXT winter!
People like this is what’s wrong with society - there is no reason TP is out of stock. It’s not like production is halting, nor people wipe their behind more often b/c of the virus! The consumption of TP should be constant all year round regardless of the situation!. Or maybe she is the one who is doing it right, and I am the idiot. IDK
If one gets desperate, there are all kinds of options that don’t involve TP. 
If left alone, experts expect 60% of population will be infected. At the end, when the virus have circulated the world a few times over. So we have 60% of getting the virus by the end of the year ish? Chance of getting the virus by the end of another week would be much much less. Probably not even 10%. More like 1%, if that. With precaution, the chance will go down even lower.
Is she Mormon? Mormons are directed by their church to always have a year’s worth of food on hand.
@rosered55, I’m not sure why the state board felt like they had to state that electric and gas won’t be shut off.
I know that in the state of Michigan and I would assume Wisconsin, they don’t turn off utilities for non paying customers in the winter. It’s already their policy.
I guess to remind people that if they can’t pay their gas or electric, they won’t be shut off. But it’s already the policy in at least the state of Michigan and I would assume every cold weather state.
You will know the difference between stocking up and hoarding.
I just know one thing. If we are “so lucky” to have this make a large positive impact on stopping the spread of the virus and things are looking up in a few weeks, if I hear ANYONE say this was overblown and now they are stuck with too much ____ (fill in the blank) I will lose it!!
Most of the US isn’t taking sufficient precautions. Don’t count on that 60% being spread out throughout the year with current steps.
Do the math on 10%. 33 million Americans. At 15% hospitalized and 2% dead (conservative if spikes lead to poor health care) that is 4.9 million and 660K respectively.
What’s wrong with a plate of beans and rice. They are certainly healthier than crumpets. And it doesn’t take much hoarding to have enough.