Re: Corona Virus Pandemic Preparedness
This is long, so grab a cup of tea.

According to the official Arkansas information, which I trust this much: _____, there are 118 positives, 154 under investigation, 501 being monitored, and 367 previously investigated who tested negative as of yesterday. Why don't I trust that information? Here is why -
On Thurs, March 12th, my neighbor spent the day shopping with her only daughter. On Sat, the 14th, she spent the day shopping with her 2 nieces, by her daughter. Her daughter's new nephew, who works in a hospital the next county over, was exposed to the virus approximately 2 weeks ago and tested positive this past Monday, 3/16/20. He went to church and sat with his family, including my neighbor, the Sunday before, the 15th of March. Wed, the 18th, her daughter and son-in-law, were quarantined, as was the niece who is married to the fellow who tested positive. The other niece, none of the members of their church, none of the friends who had been over to his house, nor my neighbor have been quarantined. And according to my neighbor none of them have even been contacted by health officials for any reason. Most of them continue to work, shop, and gather at church.
One of our new neighbors doesn't have a TV capable of watching the news; he is very poor and has an old analog TV he uses to watch movies on. He doesn't have a radio nor a vehicle that would have a radio. Yesterday he came over to another neighbor's house to inform them they needed to get to the store and stock up because there was a very bad virus going around. He had just learned about it from a family member he had called to ask them to bring him some groceries and supplies. He was stunned to say the least. Several of us had been wondering about his behavior because people have been in and out of his house daily at all hours of the day and night. Day before yesterday 5 vehicles were parked at his place with 4-5 people literally crawling over each other as they worked on 2 of the trucks. Were none of them aware of the virus either? How many other people who I see out and about as if oblivious actually are as oblivious as our new neighbor?
In talking to doctors and nurses in my state they all say, to a man/woman, that what we are being told is false...that there are many, many more cases in our state that have tested positive and countless others who show every indication of having the virus but can't, and won't, be tested because they don't fit the CDC guidelines. Quite a few of those cases are their coworkers and peers. 
Our Governor is an idiot who until just the last 3-4 days has been telling the residents here than the virus was contained in ARK - that all our cases stemmed from the original case in Pine Bluff and that all those contacts had been tracked down and quarantined. Further, there had been no spread of the virus from out of state or other sources, in spite of the fact that we have an international airport in Little Rock with connections in NY, CA, WA to name a few. On March the 13th he announced that Walmart parking lots across the state would have drive-thru testing centers...there is no sign that is going to happen. He has failed to close nonessential establishments still as of yesterday. Bars and restaurants were all open until the 19th, but hotels and motels are still in business as are all the private clubs, lake resorts and their private restaurants, bars, etc. Salons, cigarette stores, liquor stores, etc. are to operate or not as they deem best. Those closed bars and restaurants? They can now change their useage to anything such as selling groceries, alcohol, etc. in order to remain open. Most daycares remain open tho all our schools are closed until mid April at least. I dog sit to help supplement my income and everyone of my bookings has cancelled plans with the exception of one who is coming tomorrow. They are staying at one of those lake resorts and trust the establishment there to have a virus free environment....even tho people from all over the country come to those resorts starting this time of year. This baby is my last booking for a while and they were given explicit instructions for dropping her and her things off and for picking her up. Not only can I not risk exposure I can't be party to helping others be exposed to and spread the virus. OH! and that original case in Pine Bluff? He is no longer mentioned and the official reports now say the first official case was in Fayetteville on 3/18/20, seven days later, which is in the northern part of the state while Pine Bluff is in the southern part.
Yeah, my confidence level is very high, she said sarcastically. 
As for the state of things around here, it is the same as elsewhere. The grocery shelves in Kroger where I shop are mostly empty and the products that do come in have increased in price. I was lucky enough to be in the store when the bread I like was delivered. What used to cost around $2.50 a loaf is now almost $4.00.
There is no flour, baking powder or soda, no sugar or yeast, or dry milk for making your own bread...a few small bags of corn meal were all that was available. At first, fresh produce is what was all out of stock but that seems to have changed and there were plenty of fresh veggies and fruits in the bins. There are no chicken parts nor ground chicken, no ground nor roast beef, no pork chops, shoulders or roasts. A few high end cuts of beef, a little bison and lamb were all that was in the meat department. Some fish was left, mostly salmon, sword fish, and tuna. Interestingly, the only frozen seafoods that were left were those products sourced in China, which I have refused to purchase since the melamine dog food poisoning in 2007. The selections for lunch meats and hot dogs was limited as well. Some canned sardines, mackerel, herring, and very little canned tuna were on the shelf; no canned chicken, and one can of turkey spam was left. Frozen veggies were getting slim as were all the frozen pizzas and meals but not one single package of chicken nuggets, etc that many kids like to eat. No soups except for the ones that cost $2.00 a can and up, and those selections were limited. Maybe 50 cans total of canned veggies were on the shelf. One bag of brown rice was left, no white rice but several options for gourmet rice products like Jasmine, Basmati, Arborio, Black, and Wild Grain. A few pastas like elbow macaroni and spaghetti were available as were Bow Tie, Linguini, and Penne but all the Rotini was gone. There were some egg noodles left but most of them were whole grain. The pastas made from lentils and chickpeas were still plenty available. Maybe 6 jars of prepared pasta sauce left. No paper products at all with the exception of one lonely, beat up box of Kleenex which I grabbed gratefully. There were a few packages of baby wipes available but diapers seemed to be well stocked. Very little milk, sour cream, eggs or cheese left but there seemed to be plenty of yogurt. On every shelf a sign had been taped that asked shoppers to limit their purchases to 2 items...some to one item such as the nonexistent TP and paper towels. Oddly enough there were plenty of chips, cookies, nuts, Cokes (brand), and candy available as were vitamins and such, including cold and flu OTC products. The pharmacy, which typically opens at 7AM, was still closed at 9AM....they were running out of medications when I picked up my latest prescription on the 16th.
Yes, I spent way too much time walking around the store in my mask (purchased in 2015 for yard work) and gloves, which I always have on hand, in an astounded daze looking at the state of my once well-stocked store. 
I tried to do the grocery pick up from both Kroger and WalMart but before I could finish selecting items, the ones I had already put in my cart were changed to "out of stock". Paper and OTC products are in-store purchases only. Pick-up dates are a week out.
The WalMart in the next town over was closed for a day because of shoppers fighting over items.
Thankfully I haven't seen any ugliness when I've been out but several instances of goodness and kindness instead such as one lady pulling canned veggies out of her cart and putting the into the cart of an elderly lady who was staring at the empty shelves as if she were lost.
I'm not worried about food for myself at this point but I am for my dogs. Some folk have called me a dog food snob and I accept that title gladly. But I just ordered a much lower quality food than I would typically use for my babies from Amazon because it was all they had that I could afford. Chewy is out of my range on everything they had in stock that I looked at and the pet stores here are running out of stock...what they do have has doubled or tripled in cost as well. My last trip to Kroger most of my purchases were on fresh veggies I can cook to supplement the dog food they do have trying to stretch it out as much as possible. I had some chicken breasts in the freezer already so I added those to their mix.
As for TP in my home, I told Glynda that due to IBS my normal TP purchase for the month looks like panic buying to start with.
I wasn't really concerned until this latest trip to Kroger. My month is running out as is my month's supply and I am not at all confident things will have improved by the time it does. I have been taking steps to limit use every way I can when at all possible and that has allowed me to have a bit more than I normally would at this point in the month but that extra bit is soon going to be gone. I have been eyeing my stock of plastic grocery bags with a new eye the last few days. 

In addition, I am trying to flush as little as possible. With around 100 homes in our mobile home park and 90% of those families home now, including children, I foresee major sewer issues in our future. Not only from the extra TP going thru the pipes but from some folk flushing things they shouldn't - like Kleenex, paper towels, wipes, etc. So as Kathy said, creativity is the name of the game these days! 
Now I will leave you with a funny conversation I had with one of our former members named Louise, Munchie's mom. She told me about the husband of one of her girlfriends who came out of the bathroom where he had been preparing to go to town with 2 sanitary napkins taped over his mouth since he hadn't been able to find any masks...and he was serious!
In our discussion about the TP shortage, I told her my garden hose was charged; only one neighbor might be able to see me and if he did he could not use my hose! 
She said if she couldn't get any TP she was just gonna go scoot across her neighbors lawn like a dog. 






Ya'll take care of yourselves because you are all much to precious to risk.
Hugs,
Leslie
PS....Addy, sore throats are not allowed among this family! Please let us know how you are doing when you can.
"May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"
Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.