Rete

Much of those storms yesterday hit the northern part of my state, MS. We've been fortunate this year with no tornado watch/warnings to date. No shelter here for riding one out. Friends and relatives in Nashville are still trying to find shelter while their homes are being repaired and/or replaced.

We're considered high risk, me for diabetes and him for having bronchitis at the moment. Yes, he was tested for the virus and it was negative last week. Our lawn and the back forty are pristine with himself edging, mowing and cutting back most of our acreage over the last week. I hand washed both my car and his F150 truck yesterday. Got my daily sun fix doing that. Weeded the front garden on Monday so today will probably just be an inside day with an escape to the screened in patio at various parts of the day.

Pulaski

We haven't been anywhere since Sunday when we bought food (now Wednesday morning) - literally not stepped off our property. Local cases are still negligible here - like many rural counties in NC the John Hopkins Coronavirus Dashboard is reporting single figures of cases where I live - I hope it stays that way, but I suspect that the numbers are under-diagnosed.

scrubbedexpat091

I have to venture out today and go to the doctor, I tried the phone appointment yesterday first, but the issue can't be diagnosed over the phone so off to the doctor I go. They say nearly nobody comes to the office these days patient wise so hopefully I venture in and out without picking anything up.

WEBlue

Hubby & I have been fairly isolated for 2 weeks. He's basically retired but is a musician and usually has a calendar chock-a-block with lots of local gigs, practices, sessions, events, etc. All that stopped dead. No one's come to our house & we've stopped all socializing. (This has been FAR easier for me than for him!)

I work in essential services but only part-time, and not in a medical or high-risk field, so I'm still going out to work in a very limited and careful way. Otherwise, we've both gone out a few times, but only for food. Our local grocery stores have set up early shopping hours for over 60s, which is very helpful. We shop in gloves, then come home & wash/wipe everything we've bought.

robin1234

Hey WEBlue, good to hear from you!! I just talked to my wife who is in New York. Our local whole food shop, where we do a good proportion of our food shopping, is no longer open to customers walking around the store. You phone in, they pick your shopping while on the phone, then you come and pick it up kerbside. Brilliant! It helps that my wife knows the inside of the shop like the back of her hand!

lansbury

Today should be our 15th day in quarantine, but I've discovered it is in fact only day 13. Mrs L went to a doctors appointment one day and I hadn't noticed.

WEBlue

Hey, Robin!
Wow, that is a brilliant idea! I really wish our supermarkets would do that. I think I've heard our local Walgreens pharmacy will, & they carry milk & some other food products, but I've not tried that out myself.

I have heard that the supermarkets here can be unpleasantly crowded at times--people have complained on the local community forum about how unsafe that is for both shoppers & store staff. But I go first thing in the morning, and when they open the doors for OAPs-only at 6 am, there are just a few of us (so far) waiting to be let in. I can be in & out of there in 20 minutes, which is extraordinary for me for grocery shopping....

Jerseygirl

Just over 2 weeks isolation here, apart from driving to our condo a week ago to pick up a few things. We went at 5 am, masked and gloved up...we were back at 6. We didn’t see anyone...didn’t touch anything apart from a gloved finger, wrapped in plastic to press the elevator button. So I’m not counting that outing.

Groceries and other bits and pieces are delivered and left outside the door. Everything is wiped down with bleach/water solution. Nothing comes through the door without being bleached. We have had no visitors...people generally don’t like being wiped down with bleach.

fresh fruit and veg...yup soaked in bleach and water. Then rinsed thoroughly several times.

we have a little 5lb dog. Stopped taking her for a walk after seeing a pig of a man spitting continually on the footpath.

Re: pick up grocery service. I did this several weeks ago. After all this is over it could well become the norm for many.

SpoogleDrummer

It was already the norm for me until this happened, now it's impossible to get a pickup slot

Tarkak9

More and more counties are going stay-at-shelter orders. Denver's prohibition of booze and pot lasted for less than 24 hrs because people panicked queued - defeating the notion of distancing; so places are open, as essentials, provided they adapt strict distancing in stores. Although I have been isolating and social distancing, onwards will be planning far ahead to do more delivery of groceries. Although CO has been very good about distancing, personally, I wish grocery stores would use their PA system to encourage distancing whilst shopping ..... ugh. Asymptomatic vastly outweigh cases.

The habit which I have been adapting is basically quarantining anything and everything which comes into the house per se; refrigerate items in their bags and all in separate areas, obviously wash food, keep items in a designated room for 3 days or so before using. and wash, wash wash hands! -



Habit changes beyond the obvious basic hygiene have been interesting!
After we return to "normal" .... there is going to be an increase of OCD, relationship split-ups and divorce rates!!

nain rouge

I am also in a quiet suburb of Detroit, PeterFrank.

Since we are retired, this "social distancing" is no strain on us. Between cable tv, Youtube, the internet, books, and video games we are pretty content. We have been inside our condo since March 10th. We have only been out to pick up meds from the pharmacy drive-thru window, and gotten groceries from the drive-up delivery area at the supermarket twice. It's kind of interesting what new routines we have instituted due to the virus - I washed the half-gallon cartons of orange juice and milk we got with soap and water, and I also washed my wife's credit card with soap and water since it was handled by the pharmacy clerk at the drive-thru. Also, I have been microwaving the mail for 60 seconds to kill any germs.

My wife ticks one high-risk box and I tick about 4, so we are very careful. What I worry about is that it seems like sooner or later, everyone will be exposed to the virus (whether in a week or 4 months) so does that mean that those of us at high-risk will inevitably have a life-and-death struggle with the disease? Makes me not want to make any long-range plans.

Jerseygirl

i ordered a few groceries on Monday morning...they were delivered within 2 hrs. About one hour before I ordered there were no slots until April...then they all freed up. I think sometimes they just shut it all down,

joto

DH and I are self isolating as we both have health problems. I went out for groceries yesterday, but that was the first time in about 2 weeks. I did have a mask and gloves on, and tried to keep clear of other people. There wasn't that many people in the store at the time, which is good. There are almost 40 people got it in our county and 1 or 2 deaths. Not as bad as LA, but I can see there being spill over, if people try and escape the big city.

Jerseygirl

I am control freak...I like to choose my own stuff...especially fruit and veg.

steph0scope

Life as usual here on a tiny island. I work from home all the time anyway and we have no real neighbours so it's no different. No cases on the island or in the county the island belongs to. But there have been cases in this state and we are on lockdown. Head office of the company has been closed for 3 weeks already with everyone sent home and another 4 weeks to go before we can re-open the building. We have a night-time curfew here which is strange. Can you only catch the virus at night? Getting on and off the island is supposed to be for residents only who need to go 'on land' for groceries, medical appointments, prescriptions, etc. but it's not being properly enforced and people are arriving with campers and RVs. Some interesting discussions on our local Facebook group as to what is considered 'essential work' and what isn't. Marijuana shops still open but someone got in trouble for repairing a leaking roof.