It was just announced that the fans of the PGA Players Tournament in Ponte Vedra, FL., will not be allowed into the grounds after today, plus no admissions to any PGA Tournament until April 4th. NASCAR has announced that no fans will be allowed at the Atlanta or Homestead races and possibly more.
Yesterday, I discussed going to my son's with him. He's been taking care of his clients all week. A couple are doctors who are from Shanghai, China and are seemingly ok. The Chief doctor told him he shouldn't have to worry if he follows the guide lines and that he and his fellow physicians have not tested positive. Anoter doctor who is the head of the Eye Institute of NY told him the same thing, but to hold off seeing me for a couple of weeks to be on the safe side. So, since we are now under full quarantine anyhow, I'll just stay put for the time being. Better safe than sorry. Most of my son's clients had him setting them up so that their employees could work from home and he'll be busy with remoting in and ironing out any problems that arise. Plus his new client who staffs for international businesses will require his expertise in utilizing all the proper software, so we wouldn't have had much of a visit anyhow.
Well I tried to do my regular shopping today. It wa time for toilet paper and some canned veggies. No tp. One can of peas. In all my life I've never been in a store with so many empty shelves. Checked on-line when I got home. A Target store in NH said it had 6 and 9 packs of tp. So I wasted my time and went there in time to watch the last tp leaving the store as I arrived.
You should see store shelves in Florida when it's announced that a hurricane's path is headed over Florida. One word description...…...empty! We know, during the 10 1/2 years we lived in Jacksonville, we went thru a number of Tropical Storms and two hurricanes. We were lucky, we lived in a "No Evac" area.
Until a few years ago, there was a toilet paper mill in Lincoln, about fifteen miles from Millinocket. There were four or five mills making toilet paper in Maine, but I think they've closed them all down. Maine had a law connected to the power dams on Maine rivers that required that they are used to power paper mills, and probably some other kinds of mills as well, and not sold into the power grid. This is why, although we have two dams within a few miles of us, we had to pay transfer fees to buy our power from Bangor, seventy miles away. But after an onslaught from out-of-state environmental organizations, such as the Nature Conservancy, some of them went out of business, and others were bought out by a Canadian power company. The Canadian company then lobbied the state, saying that in order to remain in business they had to be able to sell power into the grid. Once they got that, they sold the paper-making machines, transferring all of the company's funds to another of their companies, shut the mills down, transferred a lot of their timberland to the environmental organizations they had allied with, sold some of the remainder, reneged on everyone's retirement benefits, and skipped back to Canada, continuing to operate the dams, but selling the power into the Canadian power grid. In Millinocket, employees learned that the company had been collecting their part of their medical plan for most of the last year they were employed, but not making payments on their medical plans, so the owed for all of their medical expenses. A New Hampshire paper company making toilet paper is running 24/7 right now, trying to meet the demand, as I imagine other US toilet paper companies are doing.
I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading all the posts on this topic. Here in Louisiana most of those who have tested positive are in New Orleans. All of our schools are shut down until April 13th. Yesterday two of my daughters did all of our grocery shopping for us...not because we couldn't do it ourselves...but because they know how much I hate crowds...so they called and volunteered...and I didn't hesitate to say yes! They had no problem getting everything on our list. I'm sure there are people panicking over here but in our family we are just using common sense. My girls are giving my Honey and me some extra blessings because we are in the most vunerable group...but other than that we are all just continuing to keep the faith and live one day at a time.
As of yesterday, our schools in our little town of Killarney, Manitoba, Canada.....Are closed for 2 weeks in connection to the Covid 19, a protection decision, and after this 2 week closure, spring break starts, wonder how all the classes missed will catch up.
Alabama has closed their schools also, some starting on Monday, and some close on Thursday (who knows why they are waiting ?) , and are closed until early April. this will probably factor in the spring break, so that kids just get an extra long one. Many businesses that are able to , including the Space and Rocket Center, have designated working from home, and I think that is probably what most of the people working on the arsenal will do also. So far, stores are open, although Publix has announced limited hours and closing at 8 pm at night. Hopefully , all of the crazy people are done buying toilet paper now, and shopping can return to a normal level.
We in the United States are now starting to feel the effects of living in a country that has been declared as a national state of emergency. This thread will focus on the effects of dealing with the changes in our lives right now, such as shortages of food items, lines at stores, all toilet appear and medical supplies pretty much sold out. Schools are being closed, businesses are asking people to work from home, and public events are being shut down. This was already starting to happen, but on Friday, President Trump declared the United States in a national state of emergency, and also set forth some programs to help deal with the situation financially. College loans are being suspended, and there is talk about mortgages also being suspended, and payroll tax stopped for the rest of this year. I am merging the posts in the COVD-19 thread into this thread that deal with the economic issues, so that the other thread can deal with any medical issues from the virus, and this one can deal with the government restrictions and other non-medical effects of the situation. Since most of the merged posts came before my post, my OP is way down here instead of at the start of the thread, and I have no idea if it can be moved or not because posts go in timeline order.
I belong to a lot of the online newsgroups , and people are posting on there that their student loans have either been greatly reduced, or completely paid off, and other people are saying that HUD is cancelling interest on mortgage payment, and they are getting statements about this. I don’t know if this is so or not, but I do know that the President said that he was going to do everything that he can to help people get through this financially.
I have long had freeze-dried foods and other foods with long expiration dates, so I haven't had the need to buy a lot of new stuff.
Our government has just trashed its expected 2020 surplus by handing our economy a $A20 b. stimulus package to combat the COVID -19 scare.. Some of this money, a tidy $750 handout, is going towards our senior cits, to spend while the economy is in downturn. Small business are being handed millions to keep their apprentices while those in part time work that can not afford time off work will be compensated. Am I being cynical in that we see this type of generosity from our leaders (with our money) whenever we encounter something out of the ordinary, to engender votes at the next election.