OK, some local colour then. First some context: Winnipeg had NO detected COVID-19 cases until last weekend when one person with severe symptoms reported to hospital. There are now eight detected cases, all of them travelers or close contacts of travelers. The province has shut down all schools and venues holding 50 or more persons. The Prime Minister has begun closing borders. Widespread testing is not available but has been gearing up for several weeks and should be OK soon.ORIGINAL: RangerJoe
Please, most of the information here was definitive and dry with no personal touch. I also like when people let us know what it is like living in that situation because it makes it less of a dry statistic which can be manipulated.
The local store here has NO fresh eggs and the meat case, frozen vegetables, and other shelf spaces are sparse. We are quite a ways from the closest known case that I saw reported.
I did not go to the medicine shop across the street. You know the type, the one that advertises "beer, vino, spirits."
So I went to Costco yesterday to get some groceries. Had to go out anyway to drop off a birthday present to one of the grandchildren who adopted me.
The store was far less busy than usual - say 50% of a normal Tuesday afternoon. Parking lot was usable without the frustration of too many cars and too few spaces. On entry a lady wiped down the handlebar of my cart with a cloth, this time covering much more of the surface than last time but still not doing a full-wrap-around. My hands, which had already touched the cart handle, returned to that handle with no offer of a wipe - undoing any good that the handle wipe might have done.
There was toilet paper, not a big stack but half a pallet or so. I am told that the store restricted people to one bundle a person last week. I asked about bleach and the employee said it was sold out. No need to ask about Clorox wipes. There was plenty of food of all kinds, including fresh produce. I saw one lady rapidly going up and down aisles scanning the shelves for something and obviously not finding. I suspect she wanted disinfectant of some kind. That was the only sign of stress that I saw.
On checkout they asked me how I was (normally not done) and if I found everything I was looking for. I mentioned how small the cashier lines were and she mentioned that last week the place was jammed with frantic shoppers buying stuff for their expected quarantine. So a new Beatitude: The Nervous Nellies shall inherit the store stock!
Other than that, my biggest disappointments are that I will not be able to see my niece (a professional dancer) perform in a production at a local theatre nor take my grandsons to the movies during the shutdowns here.
Questions?
; Julia Child
