The governor just shut down pennsylvania. I was going into the office to check mail, do things around the office, etc. Monday,Wednesday, Friday. according to the governor our office is on the shut down list.
Great… now what?
Other than that my cats are happy I am home, although they are dubious about my one project per day thing.
I had a shipment of soap (and other things), but it went into the leasing office at my apartment complex and they are closed indefinitely. Is there a legal way to force them to hand over my package?
So. At this moment, my wife and I are lucky enough to be able to weather this, at least financially. She is a college grad student with a lot of experience teaching online. In contrast with a lot of other educators, she is well qualified to move forward in the new social distancing era. And her employment comes with decent health insurance for us both. Neither of us has any debt, and we own our own apartment in NYC.
Myself, I am a musician, who has spent the last twenty years or so mostly working on Broadway, or off-Broadway, or on the touring circuit, or teaching. And of course now, all of those options are pretty much shut down. But, especially from having worked a long-running show on Broadway, I have amassed some decent savings. Not doctor-lawyer savings, but definitely enough to get us through these times. Of course, this was meant to be our nest egg, but that is a distant concern compared to now.
So we’re in relatively good shape. As long as I don’t actually come down with the virus.
Because with my age, medical condition and various other factors, I am at a high risk of suffering this disease’s more severe complications. And if I get it bad enough that I require hospitalization, at a time when triage is being practiced because of a shortage of beds and equipment—a plausible enough scenario if we follow the example of northern Italy—I strongly suspect that I would find myself on the wrong side of that triage line.
In short: my good fortune right now may be no good at all in the final analysis.
California is locked down but I‘m still going to work. The products that we make are deemed essential to the security, health and well being of the nation. Anyone involved in production must report. I was all set to retire on May 1st. That may not be possible. I can’t complain. Many people are in serious peril. I’ll get through this.
My business is on the “necessary list”. My gf’s business isn’t. Lots of kidding around about that.
No Travel. There’s a group of us that travel 50%+and we’re all home. And now my boss calls me 10 times per day. He’s bored, as a lot of what we do has slowed way down. So I have to spend about 3 hours a day talking to him about absolutely nothing, and pretending to be interested. I can’t take this much longer.
We’re okay through June. Then it’s anticipated my university will lay me off and we won’t have health insurance. With the market crash, I’m not sure we can afford COBRA.
There’s only a week and a half left in this month, but three meetings I was scheduled to have before April all turned into Virtual Meetings.
That was quick organization.
I just got a text from a woman who “means well” warning me that, from inside information she has, martial law will be going into place tomorrow.
Sigh.
We appreciate the thought. 
Now that we’ve adjusted to it, we’re thinking that it might have been all for the best. My wife isn’t the healthiest person around, and of course she would have been in a weakened state for some time after the operation. Probably a good idea for her to be as healthy as she can manage while the virus is running rampant.
Great! A cold front moving through is expected to bring exceptionally strong winds that are likely to cause power outages in some areas, as if we didn’t have enough to worry about!
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on how to deal with the Zombie Apocalpyse – uh – Coronavirus:
Still going to work but I have nothing at all to do there. Situation is fluid and changing daily but the company is trying to retain the staff. They are trying to ride it out until our extended Spring Break is over, next month or so. Watched a couple movies last night. Forgot what a great movie 12 Angry Men was.
I could take early retirement if I have to but I just looked at my 401k (not recommended!) and FUUUCCKK!!! Don’t look at yours.
On the bright side the wife is working six, 12 hour shifts, one and a half days off, then back to that horrible work schedule, trying to produce toilet paper to resupply Costco and other stores. Making bank but is currently unpleasant to be around. Kids are grown, house is paid off, bills are minimal. Still worried about what will happen in the next few days or weeks.
The first real effect (mild) just occurred. A grocer down in the county seat offered order picking with 48 hours notice. We put together a list, thinking snow levels would drop enough for us to get to town tomorrow (Saturday). Then they changed policy slightly, with customers reserving a time slot for order pickup. Those slots went fast! We’ve been put off till Tuesday. WalMart canceled their order-picking so I’ll have to walk inside for prescriptions.
This portends our longer-term lifestyle change. We’re fairly nonsocial anyway but usually make the 1- or 3- hour drives for shopping sprees every week or three. Now we won’t go browsing stores for bargains - make lists and stick to them. The local independent mountain grocery will hopefully stay open with perishables. We’ll survive but with fewer food options.
That’s our personal fallout: minor. Following the situation remtely because we’re unable to physically interact with the world feels strange. It’s all floating past us. We’ll be caught up in reality soon enough but now we’re trapped inside a snowglobe, reading of humanity crumbling. More than strange. 
I can’t believe y’all are having to deal with snow on top of everything else. 
I placed a delivery order with my local grocery chain and the first available delivery date was next Friday, a week from today! Fortunately, I think I have enough stuff to last. Time to dig down and answer the musical question: “What ARE those packages in the bottom of the freezer??”
The important thing is I’m getting three cases of cat food from amazon on Tuesday. Whew! Not a moment too soon. I mean, the cats like me okay… but priorities…
Our state Real Estate Board (or whatever it is called) has just released a new form to add to our list of state-approved forms for agents. It says a buyer & seller agree to cooperate – with each other and the law – if the sale is complicated by such emergencies as we have now.
I haven’t read the form yet, but I imagine it will be a part of every transaction from now on.
Both of my pet food suppliers - Darwin’s and Chewey - have sent emails assuring me that deliveries will remain on schedule. Cool. It’s good to know that when my wife, daughter, and I are scrounging in the backs of our cupboards, the cats will still be eating like kings.
I’m not personally affected personally, but some good friends are: New York State won’t allow funerals or services. Even the family can’t attend. They will proceed with burials and cremations, but any services will have to be done at a later date.
The latest inconvenience for me was that my orthodontist appointment, which was originally scheduled for 17 February 2020, was changed to 18 March 2020. Ah, that was an experience.
The clinic permitted only one patient at a time to enter the clinic. I arrived about 15 minutes before my appointment. The clinic staff, all of whom were dressed in basically HAZMAT suits, were finishing up the disinfection regime, as they are required to disinfect the clinic between patients. When they finished that, I was permitted inside.
Once inside, first step was to have my temperature checked. Luckily, it was below the mandatory “cart off to quarantine” cut off. I was then required to complete a form stating my name, address, cities/regions/countries visited in the last two weeks, and my current temperature. I was also required to wash my hands with gel sanitizer. Finally, I had to put on surgical shoe covers, a surgical gown, protective goggles, and surgical head cover (looks like a shower cap but made of paper).
I was then escorted to the treatment room, where the doctor checked the progress of my teeth’s movement. Turns out I had a little bit of calculus on one tooth, so she had to remove that. She is not permitted to use some of the usual tools during this crisis, one of which was the ultra-sound scaler. So, the doctor removed the calculus old school way with one of those metal picks.
As I left the treatment room, the staff began disinfecting that room.
When I paid, I had to use WeChat instead of a bank card as the staff at the front desk are not permitted now to touch those. I then had to put the “patient HAZMAT” gear I was wearing into the medical waste disposal bin. And then I was released from the clinic.
When I left the building, I looked back through the glass door and saw the staff disinfecting the waiting room and front desk.
My next appointment is in two months. I’m hoping (but not optimistic) that this situation will have improved by then.
I went on my usual Target run to buy some essential supplies. I was able to get most of what I needed, but I had to make some substitutions from my usual brands:
*Dish soap: The store brands and other cheaper brands were completely gone. They did have some giant 75 oz bottles of Dawn and the environmentally friendly Seventh Generation brand. I went with a giant bottle of Dawn.
*Canned tomatoes: The store brand and mainstream name brand ones were completely gone. They did have a few cans of the expensive organic tomatoes, so I got two of those.
*Kidney beans: Kidney beans were completely gone, as were black beans. If I was really desperate for canned beans they did have plenty of pinto beans. But I didn’t need them that badly, so I left them for someone who needed them more than me.
*Salsa: (Are people panic buying salsa?) Mild and medium varieties of the store brand were gone, but they did have hot. I usually get medium, but since I had a coupon for their brand in the Target app I went with hot this time. This may not have been a panic buy item since they had plenty of Pace and their higher end Simply Balanced brand. Maybe they were just running low.
Ground beef: Completely gone. They had the Beyond Meat ground “beef” though, so I took the opportunity to give that a try. If I really had to have real beef they did have lots of Filet Mignon. I actually had that on my list since my birthday is next week, but I was planning on getting it from a local butcher.
*Soda: Another odd one. Are caffeine addicts panic buying soda out of fear that they won’t get their fix (there seemed to be plenty of coffee in stock, though)? There was lots of 7-Up and Orange Crush and the like, but no Pepsi and only orange vanilla flavor Coke and a few cases of Dr. Pepper Cherry.
*Tissues: They had a few of the pocket sized packets, but the bigger boxes were all gone. Since I was running low at home grabbed a few of those.