I tend to pop into a little Waitrose on my way to work for a banana and cup of tea. Never have I seen so many people buying so much loo roll as I did this morning
How has COVID-19 affected you personally?
- Thread starter DelacoursLangur
- Start date
Working in a supermarket ,i worked my butt off today. Inspite of our prime minister Rutten (Netherlands) saying we don't need to hoard food , everybody is hoarding food. People are really being selfish, because of they don't hoard food there is plenty for everyone. Now people who have to work all day are finding empty shelves at the end of the day .
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This weekend was supposed to be the Little Athletics NSW State Championships here in Sydney - the culmination of 6 months of training, competition and preparation. It is very prestigious to qualify for the state championships because the level of competition is very high.
My son qualified in his two favourite events - the 100m sprint and the 80m hurdles. He has been training really hard all season - and I have dedicated a lot of time to taking him to training and to the various competitions he needs to compete at to qualify. He had a good chance of medalling in the 80m hurdles.
So naturally, we were very disappointed when they cancelled the event at the last minute yesterday afternoon.
There was a meeting yesterday between all the states and the federal government on their approach to managing COVID-19, and it was decided that from Monday there would be a ban on all public gatherings of more than 500 people. This means that a lot of events across Australia are now being cancelled, including the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne.
I knew something like this was coming - but was hoping we'd still get our state championships done before then - and indeed, once I heard the news about the ban from Monday - I thought we would be okay. But the managing body decided to be cautious and cancelled early - which has made a lot of people very angry, especially given the relatively low risk to the kids and parents.
I was upset at first until I remembered that this is a volunteer run event - there are a lot of people who give their time freely to officiate and help at these sporting events. In my experience, many of the people involved are also in the older age groups - and so potentially more vulnerable to the virus. Once I considered the impact that holding the event might have on our volunteers - I realised that cancelling was the right decision, it's simply not worth the risk.
My son qualified in his two favourite events - the 100m sprint and the 80m hurdles. He has been training really hard all season - and I have dedicated a lot of time to taking him to training and to the various competitions he needs to compete at to qualify. He had a good chance of medalling in the 80m hurdles.
So naturally, we were very disappointed when they cancelled the event at the last minute yesterday afternoon.
There was a meeting yesterday between all the states and the federal government on their approach to managing COVID-19, and it was decided that from Monday there would be a ban on all public gatherings of more than 500 people. This means that a lot of events across Australia are now being cancelled, including the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne.
I knew something like this was coming - but was hoping we'd still get our state championships done before then - and indeed, once I heard the news about the ban from Monday - I thought we would be okay. But the managing body decided to be cautious and cancelled early - which has made a lot of people very angry, especially given the relatively low risk to the kids and parents.
I was upset at first until I remembered that this is a volunteer run event - there are a lot of people who give their time freely to officiate and help at these sporting events. In my experience, many of the people involved are also in the older age groups - and so potentially more vulnerable to the virus. Once I considered the impact that holding the event might have on our volunteers - I realised that cancelling was the right decision, it's simply not worth the risk.
This had to be cancelled as well unfortunately, as much as I'd love to visit these places the risk is just too great at the moment. Hopefully when this has settled down I'll make a trip to see these zoos, as it is I'm visiting the Toronto Zoo tomorrow which should be fun.On the bright side, I will be going on a road-trip where I will be visiting the Saint Louis, Indianapolis and Louisville zoos.
In regards to closing primary schools:
As previously mentioned - my wife is on the front lines of planning for and coordinating the health response to the virus in our area, so is extremely busy right now.
One thing she pointed out to me was the potential impact of closing schools. She said the vast majority of staff at our hospitals and other medical facilities would have children - many of them school aged.
If they closed the schools - many of the staff would be forced to stay home, and unfortunately for the most part, health care is not something that can be done remotely.
My wife also worked in staffing for a few years and so is well aware of how difficult it can be to keep a large hospital fully staffed at the best of times - but if we suddenly lose a large number of health staff due to school closures, our already overburdened hospitals are going to struggle even more.
Also consider the people working on our critical infrastructure, plus other emergency services workers and police etc.
In our case, I am lucky enough to be able to work from home full time - so having the kids at home is nothing more than an annoyance (I need quiet and no interruptions to be productive when doing programming work). But there are plenty of families who will struggle if the kids can't go to school, even more so if they don't have other family members who can help out.
Closing universities is easy and closing high schools is not so bad - the older kids can generally look after themselves. Closing primary schools is going to have a huge impact on everyone. It's not an easy decision.
As previously mentioned - my wife is on the front lines of planning for and coordinating the health response to the virus in our area, so is extremely busy right now.
One thing she pointed out to me was the potential impact of closing schools. She said the vast majority of staff at our hospitals and other medical facilities would have children - many of them school aged.
If they closed the schools - many of the staff would be forced to stay home, and unfortunately for the most part, health care is not something that can be done remotely.
My wife also worked in staffing for a few years and so is well aware of how difficult it can be to keep a large hospital fully staffed at the best of times - but if we suddenly lose a large number of health staff due to school closures, our already overburdened hospitals are going to struggle even more.
Also consider the people working on our critical infrastructure, plus other emergency services workers and police etc.
In our case, I am lucky enough to be able to work from home full time - so having the kids at home is nothing more than an annoyance (I need quiet and no interruptions to be productive when doing programming work). But there are plenty of families who will struggle if the kids can't go to school, even more so if they don't have other family members who can help out.
Closing universities is easy and closing high schools is not so bad - the older kids can generally look after themselves. Closing primary schools is going to have a huge impact on everyone. It's not an easy decision.
I'm also worried about those people. I went to the store this morning for last minute stuff (we got most of what we needed last week) because I figured that people would start stocking up tonight. The store was already quite busy and some of the shelves were getting stripped. There was still plenty of food, but at this rate, it is going to be harder for people who aren't able to shop until this evening.
Also, most of the people at the store this morning were older people. If coronavirus is in our area (no confirmed cases yet) then that's a risky move... I have some older neighbors so I'm gonna see if they need my help to get stuff.
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
Crowthorne, You brought a smile to my face for the first time today. "Loo Roll" is SUCH a more euphemistic way to describe "toilet paper" that it took me a moment to realize you weren't talking about sushi!
In the current situation, I have reluctantly cancelled my plans for a holiday in New York this spring.
This would have been my fourth visit to New York (although the last time was twenty years ago). I was eagerly looking forward to revisiting Bronx Zoo, American Museum of Natural History, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo and the various other zoological collections in New York.
Obviously my cancelled holiday is a disappointment but it is really insignificant when compared to all the illness and suffering that the COVID-19 virus will cause.
The thought of people buying loo roll from Waitrose does make me laugh; is it gold-embossed or something?
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry you'll miss seeing us, but even more of the things you wanted to see may be closed by then anyway. Lol. As someone said upthread, come back in the summer and I may meet up with you to share in some of your visits.
Regarding my situation, this is not clear at the moment. I have booked flight and car over an online travel service company (as a package) and believe it or not: Even I tried to reach their service center by phone multiple times (and wrote an email as well), the only reply I get was BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
Thanks for this.
It is extremely unlikely that I'll visit USA this year now but, all being well, I hope to return to New York next spring.
The thought of people buying loo roll from Waitrose does make me laugh; is it gold-embossed or something?
Even the basics stuff is monogrammed
I do wonder though how many were usual Waitrose shoppers, and how many were there because Tesco had run out?!
Reminds me of a joke I heard on Radio 4 years ago, about Sainsbury's keeping the riff-raff out of Waitrose
I didn't realise loo roll wasn't a term used across The Pond! Don't think I ever really say 'toilet paper', it's always 'loo roll' or 'bog roll' here (loo roll being the more socially acceptable term
)
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
I didn't realise loo roll wasn't a term used across The Pond! Don't think I ever really say 'toilet paper', it's always 'loo roll' or 'bog roll' here (loo roll being the more socially acceptable term
If people understood "lol roll" here, I would surely never use "toilet paper" again! I'm not at all sheepish, but there are now commercials here where animated bears discuss whether your brand is leaving "bits" behind or one in which we are asked quite seriously if we are "enjoying the go.". It's embarrassing. Too much information! Too much detail!
My school is officially being closed for 2 weeks. Not sure if this means they'll tack on two extra weeks to the end of the year though.
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Here in Spain we are officially on alert since tomorrow, for at least two weeks, what means, among other things, that everything except groceries and drugstores will be closed. On my area all schools, sport facilities, day-care centers for old people, libraries, etc, are already closed. People have become hysterical and are hoarding food and basic items like toilet paper, even when the shops are saying there is no need of that since there is more than enough supply, but workers can´t replace products fast enough.
Apart of that, luckily there are still no cases on my area, but it´s expanding very fast so I guess is just a matter of time. I´m not specially worried, even when I´m a risk patient due my asthma and simple colds usually ends on bronchitis, and having another two riskly patients on my family, maybe because living on a small village far from the city brings certain sense of security. I´m more worried about how people will behave the next weeks. The hysteria is increasing more and I´m pretty sure that will provoke more collapse on the health care system, already enough saturated. And on the other hand, we have many people that don´t take it seriously at all. For example, lot of people from Madrid (the most affected area on the country) are using the days at home for go to other areas of the country on holidays, specially to the nearest beaches, what is provoking quarrels with the residents on those areas, that see them as a potential danger. We seem to be a country of extremes...
Apart of that, luckily there are still no cases on my area, but it´s expanding very fast so I guess is just a matter of time. I´m not specially worried, even when I´m a risk patient due my asthma and simple colds usually ends on bronchitis, and having another two riskly patients on my family, maybe because living on a small village far from the city brings certain sense of security. I´m more worried about how people will behave the next weeks. The hysteria is increasing more and I´m pretty sure that will provoke more collapse on the health care system, already enough saturated. And on the other hand, we have many people that don´t take it seriously at all. For example, lot of people from Madrid (the most affected area on the country) are using the days at home for go to other areas of the country on holidays, specially to the nearest beaches, what is provoking quarrels with the residents on those areas, that see them as a potential danger. We seem to be a country of extremes...
Wisconsin is now closing all K-12 schools. I did not see that one coming.
Regarding my situation, this is not clear at the moment. I have booked flight and car over an online travel service company (as a package) and believe it or not: Even I tried to reach their service center by phone multiple times (and wrote an email as well), the only reply I get was BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
That's what I'm getting attempting to reach the airline I booked my flights on. I imagine this is due to how overwhelmed they are atm.
~Thylo