I went on my usual weekly shopping trip with my mom, and one of our stops is always Target, and it was very odd to see the large empty shelves where hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol used to be. And the hand soap aisle was 90% empty. And there was not much choice left in the cold-medicines section.
I could feel a little reactive tendril of panic twirling up, telling me to buy up everything that was left whether I needed it or not. I soothed that impulse down by buying restrained back-ups of things we use all the time and will use even if there is no pandemic/quarantine/disaster: cat litter, cat food, one extra bottle of ibuprofen, one extra bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s lilac hand soap, one extra pack of toilet paper, two extra packs of the omeprazole I take for reflux, one extra bottle of salsa I eat despite having reflux, etc.
We are trying to be sensibly prepared without getting silly about it, but it is so hard to know where that prepared/silly line is when part of the anxiety comes from not knowing how this thing is going to go: people can compare it to the usual flu, and that IS stabilizing, as long as this ends up being similar to the usual flu, which we don’t really know yet. It’s too easy to picture people in the early stages of any historical catastrophic illness, feeling the first little tendrils of anxiety but trying not to get all SILLY about it.
But it does help to imagine what it would be like if the media were covering the regular flu in the same way they’re covering Covid-19: many reports a day giving lists of HOW many additional people in WHICH states had been diagnosed with flu that day, how many had died, etc. My goodness, how very stressful and upsetting that would be! But they DON’T do that, so we’re not in a constant flutter all flu-season long.
At the library where I work, we are wiping down incoming materials, and tripling our usual daily sanitizing (tables, doorknobs, counters, keyboards, etc.). We are all a little crabby from the extra hassle/work and from the Lysol/Clorox fumes. The fumes are also making my throat feel a little funny. OR AM I GETTING SICK. No, I think it is just the fumes. Every time anyone coughs or sniffs, which we all do all the time because books are basically a giant pile of temporarily incorporated dust (girl, same), we all squint in that person’s direction.
The schools keep sending us emails about how they’re monitoring the situation. The middle school and high school are basically doing the same as the library: more sanitizing, more cleaning. Rob’s college and William’s college have both suggested not traveling over spring break, and have asked anyone traveling to certain places to please self-quarantine for 14 days after returning. Both schools have mentioned the possibility of not having ANY of the students return to campus after spring break, depending on how things go in the intervening days. A co-worker’s daughter is at another college, and THAT college says if there is one single Covid-19 case diagnosed at their school, they will close the school and send everyone home.
Well! Well. And here we all are, waiting to see what happens next. Definitely all of us very chill about the whole thing.
I’m a college vice-president and A LOT of my work week this week was spent updating our pandemic response plan and talking like “well, what about this? And if we found out this way? Or that way? Or, or, or…” and this was all before the first confirmed case in our area was announced (that happened today).
I feel like I’m trying to keep a reasoned perspective about things. But I also just bought 30 rolls of toilet paper tonight at Costco just because they had it in stock.
Ugh, yes, very chill, that’s what we are, mhmm. I was doing the same as you, buying a few extra cans of soup, some juice and crackers, trying not to go overboard. I just got a text from a friend (who has a very poor immune system) that she was feeling a little achy and went to three different stores looking for NyQuil. Nothing!! Now I want to go to all the stores and buy all the things.
Oh, and my daughter is spending the semester in Ireland. Across the ocean. Very far away. But it’s all good, right? RIGHT? Where’s that special bottle I was saving?
I work in healthcare and think you have the right level of anxiety. Enough to be prepared but not so much as to let it affect your life too much. I am angry at the administration (what else is new?) though, because we need to be testing lots of people, and their response time to getting lots available has been… sluggish. We are all waiting for suspected cases to turn up in our area but it might be too late since nobody is getting tested.
The one thing I’m putting my foot down about is that my elderly parents have a trip planned this spring to Italy. I’m obviously going to try to convince them not to go, but will tell them that if they insist (they can be quite stubborn), they will have to self-quarantine for 2 weeks. But even if they self-quarantine, what about their cab driver who takes them from the airport to their house? And one of us should go shopping for them before they get home so they don’t have to go to the store! Etc.
And why is this stuff self-imposed? I mean what is “Homeland Security” doing about planeloads of people coming from Level 2 or 3 countries every day? It is so easy to feel like we are overreacting when there is so little official information that is trustworthy coming from government. They really need to test more people, have live/daily updates, and give schools etc clear guidance on when it’s appropriate to close, etc. /Rant
A. MEN. to everything you said.
Here in the U.K. people are queuing outside shops before they open in order to buy the limited deliveries of hand sanitiser that are arriving and most places are using a 2 per customer maximum. The shelves are otherwise totally empty of this and most liquid soap. People are insane – only a very few people actually need to use sanitisers and yet… Loo roll shelves are also looking sparse and Costco looks as though it’s Christmas week – I’m annoyed every time I go into a shop and am almost under-buying as a small, ridiculous protest! 🤷🏻♀️ This is not helping with my general intolerance of my fellow citizens 😉
Actually had to talk myself INTO buying toilet paper today, as I normally would when we still have a few rolls left, instead of waiting until we were down to the last scrap on the last roll out of spite. As it was, I ended up ordering from Amazon rather than going into the store and feeling annoyed at the empty shelves. Happily, I discovered that our brand is way cheaper on Amazon and also available through Subscribe and Save for next time, so yay? Costco being COMPLETELY out of all bottled water almost sent me over the edge last week – I wanted to walk around politely letting those asking know that since this wasn’t a hurricane or flood or major earthquake, their city tap water would very likely continue to run for the next 1 to 2 years that we will probably be dealing with cases of this virus, and that they can get some jugs and fill them if they need a backup supply.
I am also concerned about soap shortages – just how little have people been washing their hands regularly that everyone now needs so much more soap?!?
😄 loo roll!
“Under-buying as a small, ridiculous protest” 😂😂
I’m a prof. at a college that has closed as of last Thursday; we have a handful of confirmed cases and others suspected. Every day multiple emails and video-messages from the university President. The Admins are telling students to self-quarantine, but they live in DORMS with ROOMMATES. And shared bathrooms. In Manhattan.
The thing that has comforted me the most is remembering Herd Immunity. One of my undergrads used the term to disarm panicky peers, and I read up on it with regard to this particular outbreak. I think we’re going to be ok.
But yeah, the whole, “The Spanish Flu seemed silly at first” thing is always nagging at me, so I sympathize. Ugh. In any case, it’s Saturday, and you have salsa, as do I. ¡Salud!
https://www.dw.com/en/why-coronavirus-fears-are-disproportionate-compared-with-other-health-risks/a-52281566
I also find it hard to calibrate my response to the news coverage. This article helped me a lot.
So helpful, thanks!
Just be aware that the article linked was updated on 2/24. We are learning new things every day. Not to invalidate the article — just to remind you to make sure your sources are timely.
Absolutely, Heather! I also like this newsletter from the CDC. There’s an email subscription and a summary page that’s always being updated.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html?deliveryName=DM21367
Favorite part:” books are basically a giant pile of temporarily incorporated dust (girl, same)“
I always love your take on things – reasonable but with caution. I am mildly (ha) worried about spring break at my daughter’s school and love the idea of a two week quarantine for everyone after break ends BUT of course that is wholly unreasonable for working parents! Well. I am handling my anxiety by picking up a bottle of wine every time I go to the grocery store (I do not currently drink wine but if we get quarantined I sure will) and making up games to play with my daughter that involve not touching our faces.
@Suzanne: This:
” I am handling my anxiety by picking up a bottle of wine every time I go to the grocery store (I do not currently drink wine but if we get quarantined I sure will)”
made me laugh out loud!
Same. Except Ativan. ;)
I came here to comment on that same perfect, brilliant line. <3
I think not panicking at all is good; appropriate responses without panic are not panic, no matter how drastic those measures seem (closing things, making sure you have medication and food for X weeks, staying home when the WHO or CDC recommend it, whatever!). I mean, it would be hard to do some of those without panicking because of the nature of Human Beings Feeling Scared About Things That Are Scary, but I think your controlled buying (of things that you will actually use) is a good idea! :-)
I made an extra trip to both Target and Walmart (ugh) today. When I went to Target earlier this week, I did exactly what you did- picked up an extra of things we already use regularly,or picked something up that may not have already been on the list but that we use regularly. Stocked up on Near East couscous, hand soap, Tylenol for the grownups and the kids, and some of the kids favorite snacks. I already bulk buy things that are on sale so we are usually always ahead of the game. This morning there was NO LYSOL anywhere, so I’m glad I always have that around. Same with Clorox wipes. I’m not worried so much about the virus for us (relatively young, no underlying health issues)….. but I am very concerned about society in general panicking, leading to shortages or unavailabilty of things. I’m also worried about our jobs and therefore paychecks- I run a before/after school program and my husband works for the state…. my state just declared a state of emergency and two cases just popped up in our county.
I’m trying to do the same. It’s probably good practice anyway since I don’t always have canned goods or backup supplies and sometimes find myself running out. I am debating whether to book my flights for domestic work travel in April/May. And I’m supposed to go to a conference in a few weeks which has not been cancelled.
I live in South Korea and we are currently on day 16 of being confined to our apartment as the whole country is in crisis mode. My kids’ school announced on a Saturday morning that as of Monday it would suddenly be Spring Break (a month early). By Tuesday they announced that the school would be closed for two additional weeks and they would move to an online virtual schooling situation, and so now my four kids are learning via conference calls and videos posted by their teachers. My husband is in the Navy and the military has made it off-limits for anyone to eat in restaurants, take cabs or public transportation, or basically go anywhere but work and the grocery store. So we sit here in our apartment driving each other crazy and rarely going outside. When we go out we have to wear masks because society (and like 40 signs in our apartment complex) dictates it. Luckily I had a kitchen stocked with food when this started but I have had to go out to the store a couple of times and to Costco because my wine situation was grim. We have had to cancel all of our travel plans (or had them canceled for us) and there’s really no end in sight. My mom had to mail me hand sanitizer a few weeks ago because there was none to be found at any of the stores here. I think you are right to buy an extra of stuff you use anyway, but the hoarding of things like masks and sanitizer enrages me. This virus is dumb and needs to disappear!
Oh my goodness! That sounds so intense. I want to learn more about what it’s like! What is the schedule? How do you keep from driving each other crazy?
The “no end in sight” really gives me pause. We really have never lived through anything like this (in most of our lifetimes). I wonder if there is any epidemiologic way to tell when it’d be okay to resume normal activity again.
I live in a state where the dominant religion encourages keeping something like a year’s worth of supplies in the basement. While we are not of that religion, my husband definitely tilts towards having that supply. The good part is that local stores have frequent case lot sales that are cheaper than Costco. The bad part is that I have a 5 gallon tub of hard red wheat in my basement. I don’t know how to process wheat. At any rate, our line is already firmly in the too much preparation camp, and yet we are less prepared than many of our neighbors so….
Blender or Food Processor. To process the wheat.
Last week when I went to Trader Joe’s, there were several empty patches: pasta, beans, oil, ramen, that sort of thing. This week, all the shelves were fully stocked. I mentioned it to the checkout clerk, and she said they’d changed their whole system of ordering in response to the virus. I have no idea how this works, but I wonder if smaller stores are a little more flexible than big box stores or warehouses like Target and Costco?
Like many, I’m more worried about shortages being caused by people hoarding than the virus itself… which of course leads to me wanting to buy too much toilet paper myself, because who wants to run out of toilet paper because everyone’s bought it all up while I was being a conscientious non-hoarder?
And my husband owns a gas station so you’d think that’d give me an in on getting a small one for each family member, no? You’d think wrong. He can’t even order it to get it for his customers. Someone came in and bought his entire stock in one go so he’s out for the foreseeable future.
And the virus isn’t even in my city yet! But already the shelves are emptying (including the supplies to make hand sanitizer since the sanitizer itself is gone) and coffee places won’t take my reusable cup! And the schools keep having to send out emails saying they’re not closing! It’s madness!
Meanwhile, I’m still hoping to go to Florida with my family at Easter and am wondering if the flight will be cancelled.
*note: that should have read “a small container of hand sanitizer” instead of “a small one” in my second paragraph. Apparently I thought it but didn’t actually introduce the topic.
I think that we have enough on hand to be okay for two weeks if we had to be, though I have bought extra of some things.
My fear is not that the virus will enter our house or not. My fear is that they will close the schools and daycares because it’s entered the community. I don’t think I’m going to be able to work from home with my kid around, and I don’t think it’s going to go over well with my work projects if I have to say that. And on top of that, I think parenting is likely to get a lot harder if I can’t even even take her to a playground or the library.
Things that helped me feel better:
I found a graph from the BBC news website with death rates by age, based on 30,000 patients in China. I do not recommend googling this if you are over 50-60. But if you are a younger person worried about your children it might help a lot!
I live in an area that currently has a high number of active cases. But even here, the number of cases and deaths is dwarfed by the size of the overall population, and far smaller than the number of annual deaths from flu. Even if there are ten or even a hundred times more people with covid-19 than have currently been identified, it’s still just a fraction of the population. Looking up some of those numbers and calculating some percentages was very reassuring for me.
My takeaway:
My nuclear family and I are safe. Our job is to protect the vulnerable population– the grandparents, chemotherapy patients, the first responders, etc– and ideally to keep this contained enough that it doesn’t become endemic. We can do that by adopting easy, common sense measures: hand washing/sanitizing, working from home if job permits, keeping a sick child home, not going to a crowded concert this weekend, etc. We can also help by not buying up all the masks and sanitizer, so it’s available for the teachers and nurses and bus drivers who are out there in contact with everyone. But I’m not going to panic and cancel dinner with friends or keep my kids home from school for a month.
Ditto what you said. Don’t panic, but do things to help protect the vulnerable in your community and to help slow the rate at which the disease spreads. I have a relative who lives in a city where there are now several confirmed cases of COVID-19. Her elderly mother, who had surgery a couple months ago, lives with her. This relative posted on Facebook that she had concert tickets for tonight and should she go? And all her friends are “Yes” and I’m all “but what about your mother???”
Just looked at this. Helpful for me too. Thanks!
This is exactly the kind of post I needed to read today. Your reassuring tone is invaluable, Swistle.
I’ve been stocking up on necessities here and there for the past couple of weeks (in a reasonable, non-panicky way), but made the mistake of trying to have a rational conversation about it with a co-worker this week. I live in the thick of Trump country, and coworker was giving me major side eye and scoffing that it was like the regular flu, no big deal, media blowing up nothing, etc. He stopped just short of calling it a hoax. This is especially horrifying because his wife is a nurse at our local hospital. You’d think he’d at least acknowledge SOME of the danger, but according to coworker, nurse wife is annoyed that her normal operating procedures have been altered to conserve/set aside supplies for future coronavirus needs, thus disrupting her normal routine.
*bangs head on desk repeatedly* I am not in favor of panic, but the idiocy on display both in person and on social media is literally astounding. And so I will continue to calmly plan and prep in silence. And then shut myself off into a hermetically sealed pod. Because I live amongst crazy people.
First confirmed case in my city today.
So I am not, I would claim, panicking, but I am concerned and have been for some time. Last week (Monday of last week, to be specific), I stopped taking public transportation (my usual way of getting to work). I’ve stopped eating food prepared by other people (i.e. from restaurants), though I probably won’t refuse to go out to a restaurant if my DH suggests it (it’s more, skipping boxed lunches provided at work meetings and bringing my own from home instead). We are debating whether to skip going to a concert (venue seats ~1200) tomorrow (I’d prefer to skip). For several weeks I have been buying extra food, mostly of the canned/comfort or use-all-the-time variety. I have not, for the record, bought a single container of hand sanitizer, wipes, or cleaner, though we did/do have plenty of most of this stuff (not real users of sanitizer, prefer soap, though we do have some). I did buy some bottled water along with some gatorade, but only because my son is having a birthday party this weekend (outdoors, in a park). Ordinarily I’d have bought big bottles and some cups and big bags of chips, but this year I went with individual-sized servings for both. We will also have pizza (prepared in a restaurant, so not consistent with above) but I’m considering having an adult responsible for handing plate-with-pizza-slice on it to the kids rather than letting them go pell mell at it as we usually do. We are going ahead with the birthday party (and possibly going to the concert) but otherwise largely canceling social activities involving groups, particularly indoors (and the party is outdoors, as noted).
Earlier this year, my son and I were both sick but I wasn’t convinced we had the same bug (his was fever, cough, no appetite, mine was head congestion, mostly), and our household had only 1 thermometer which meant I was washing it obsessively. We now have 1 thermometer per family member.