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Post by dillwyn on Mar 18, 2020 11:07:52 GMT
my brother-in-law was punched in the face whilst refilling the stocks of toilet rolls in his supermarket...
supermarkets are having to limit sales of food items now ... there are people panicking and the media and indeed this incredibly poorly led uk government are not helping
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Post by Helmut83 on Mar 18, 2020 15:23:06 GMT
When folk are seen leaving a shop with for example 4 or 5 packs of toilet roll leaving the shelves empty and the old and vulnerable are left with nothing,I will continue to call them idiots..... It's a bit of a "do whatever you can for you and your loved ones" situation. Not a desirable situation, for sure, but one in which I wouldn't be so judgemental unless we are talking about crazy amounts of a certain product. If you are a couple with 4 kids, 4 packs of toilet roll will probably last 2 weeks. I would never condemn that under these circumstances. How good our quarantine would be if we needed to go back to the supermarket in 5 days? Besides, if you buy less than you'll need in an attempt to leave things on the shelves for the old and vulnerable, what are the chances that the next buyers for that product will actually be the old and vulnerable? If your concern is them, there has to be better thing you can do, like for example if you have a relative, neighbour or acquaintance who belongs to that group, going to the supermarket to buy a few rolls of toilet paper for them.
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Post by Timeblue on Mar 18, 2020 15:27:12 GMT
Mrs T is a childminder and its important to keep our home clean and to provide neccessary toiletries etc. We now cannot find these items for love nor money because of idiots panic buying. She is regulated and if someone from her peers comes and does a check then she could be closed down.
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Post by Helmut83 on Mar 18, 2020 15:46:03 GMT
I'm sorry to hear that, Timeblue. I can understand your annoyance, it must surely be an uncomfortable situation. I don't want to be heavy with this, but have in mind people were told to quarantine, to isolate themselves inside their houses and not come out for as long as possible. That's the reason I think many people bought larger amounts than usual. You qualify it as "panic buying", and there is a certain amount of fear in it (aren't we all a bit scared of this situation and the uncertainty of not knowing how it will wind up?), but for others it's just doing the best we can and complying with what we were told to do. That's what I did too, and when I did it, the aim I had in mind was behaving in a civil way and complying with what the country was asking from me under these circumstances. I bought 3 packs of toilet paper just for myself (the shelves were completely full though) because I had planned not to have to go to the supermarket again for at least 3 weeks. In my mind I was planning ahead, as eloneen says (or not so ahead, but at least planning), and thinking that if everyone else stayed at home for 3 weeks things would be so much better with this virus. If you had seen me leaving the supermarket you'd probably have said "look, that's an idiot who is 'panic buying' and doesn't care about the elderly and the vulnerable". Not what I had in mind definitely. On the contrary, in my point of view I was caring about them and the whole community, as well as myself, obviously; but I was doing what I thought was expected from me. Again, I lament your situation and hope you can get as much toilet paper as you and Ms Timeblue need for the foreseeable future so things fix up in that aspect. In the meanwhile, have in mind that the motivations that the buyers had when they bought weren't always so evil or inconsiderate. Good luck with that, I'm sure if a check happens they will understand and not close her down given the circumstances. |
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Post by orioles70 on Mar 18, 2020 20:13:15 GMT
I see that Italy's case total increased by a smaller % than the USA total today (13.4% versus 21.1%)
Not too long ago, their daily rate of increase was higher than America's.
Their outbreak got out of control first - so they are further down the curve.
I'll keep watching the stats, but it seems like their social distancing tactics are starting to work.
the day to day numbers can be a bit erratic and 13.4% is still alarming
hopefully in 3 or 4 days a positive trend will be confirmed for Italy
and then other places should follow the pattern
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Post by Buttler on Mar 18, 2020 20:24:24 GMT
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Post by eloneen on Mar 18, 2020 20:33:09 GMT
I see that Italy's case total increased by a smaller % than the USA total today (13.4% versus 21.1%) Not too long ago, their daily rate of increase was higher than America's. Their outbreak got out of control first - so they are further down the curve. I'll keep watching the stats, but it seems like their social distancing tactics are starting to work. the day to day numbers can be a bit erratic and 13.4% is still alarming hopefully in 3 or 4 days a positive trend will be confirmed for Italy and then other places should follow the pattern Our numbers are going to be alarming here in the US for a while, because we are finally able to do testing on a larger scale.
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Post by orioles70 on Mar 18, 2020 20:52:54 GMT
eloneen, I expect you're right. Outbreaks always follow an exponential curve up and then down. But with testing availability so limited at first, that's going to make our curve look exceptionally steep. A peak on top of a peak. I think Italy also had that issue to some extent. They were just watching the airports for people arriving from China and didn't test to see that the virus was already there. with increased testing - it means even more when a curve starts to decelerate and then turn downwards I don't know how long it will take, but we'll get there. O's
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Post by BSJ on Mar 18, 2020 22:22:42 GMT
Peace and Love from Ringo
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Post by unomusette on Mar 18, 2020 22:50:02 GMT
I might be misjudging people who are clearing the shelves as I'm the sort of person who always has enough stock of tinned or dried food to last at least 6 months, plus a crammed freezer. In fact I'd quite enjoy the challenge of having to do just that. Others might only ever have in their homes enough to last about two weeks so it would be understandable if they worried about running out.
But the supermarkets shouldn't have had to bring in limits on how many of some items people can buy, shoppers should have been sensible enough to stick to that on their own. As far as I know even countries on lockdown such as Italy are allowing people to go out to buy supermarket goods so if you have three packs of toilet roll for instance (as limited by some shops now) it should easily last you a couple of weeks during which the shops can stock up again for when you next come out. I was hoping that people would limit themselves enough so that it could be proved there was no danger of shops running out but the endless parade of footage of empty shelves in the media is making it hard to resist overdoing it.
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Post by Helmut83 on Mar 19, 2020 5:47:25 GMT
Things have gone downhill at the speed of light here. It appears that tomorrow the government will decree mandatory quarantine for everyone, ala Italy, for a week.
My sister is expecting and she's already within the previewed period for the birth of her child, she could be born as soon as today, although the estimated date is March 28th. Honestly, I am concerned. This is a terrible context for having a child, many things could become a difficulty, like hospitals running out of beds or of course my sister getting infected.
For the time being mild to hot weather is holding and it will for the next week, which helps a bit, but after that a cold front could come at any moment.
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Post by Buttler on Mar 19, 2020 9:35:13 GMT
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Post by eloneen on Mar 19, 2020 12:50:04 GMT
Buttler Frankly, I'm not surprised.  How are you and your family doing now?
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Post by Buttler on Mar 19, 2020 13:58:02 GMT
Buttler Frankly, I'm not surprised. How are you and your family doing now? We are fine, thank you. I'm not working now, I'll come back to the factory next week.
I'm a bit scared, I must confess. Even thought they are disinfecting rooms, canteen, dressing rooms etc. I can't avoid direct contact with my workmates (Unfortunately no face masks atm).
We must face the truth: our lives will never be as they were before.
I'd suggest you to read this article, it's really interesting.
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Post by queenofthehours on Mar 19, 2020 16:11:19 GMT
I went shopping today but not panic buying (I panic buy all year long to begin with and if I did panic today it was because of the other shoppers getting in my way and acting like idiots! Why do people leave trolleys in the middle of the aisle anyway?).
I decided to venture into Tesco which is a perilous endeavour at the best of times - and now we are in the worst on times. Anyway, much of the expected groceries had gone including now some unexpected things. Last week all the milk was gone (almond and soya etc remain full however) and now all the tinned foods have gone including tinned pies and Irish stew. The crumpets all disappeared from the shelf in fifteen minutes. What was amusing though was noticing that the only bottled drinks left in the pop section were the lime-flavoured soda waters and the only real vegetables left in the veg section were a few weird organic carrot bags and plenty of swedes. So if you enjoy lime flavoured soda or swedes you're laughing. I didn't even think panic buyers were so picky. Everything has disappeared from the shelves yet even this will not entice people to try exotic soda or ugly veg. (Swede makes mash too don't over look it!)
Things have gone downhill at the speed of light here. It appears that tomorrow the government will decree mandatory quarantine for everyone, ala Italy, for a week. My sister is expecting and she's already within the previewed period for the birth of her child, she could be born as soon as today, although the estimated date is March 28th. Honestly, I am concerned. This is a terrible context for having a child, many things could become a difficulty, like hospitals running out of beds or of course my sister getting infected. For the time being mild to hot weather is holding and it will for the next week, which helps a bit, but after that a cold front could come at any moment. I hope your sister is ok and that you and your family are not worrying too much. It's an anxious time made even worse when we have other issues to deal with aside from the virus. We panic buy loo roll, America panic buys guns. I don't know what to say about that.
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Apparently it's quite hard to see them with the naked eye, you need to be looking through a camera or other type of lens?