COVID-19 (The artist formally known as Coronavirus)

[Beast]

1 minute ago, Sheikah said:

12 minutes ago, Goafer said:

You do realise that this is why there's shortages right? It's not just people clearing shelves in a blind panic, it's the "Just in case" buying that's just as harmful.
I've bought what I need. No more, no less. If something's sold out, I'll get something else. I'm vegetarian, but If I have to, I'll eat meat. Fortunately, meat free stuff is pretty much immune from panic buying where I am. It was funny to see the meat aisle empty, but the meat free section fuller than I've never seen it. 

Exactly, people buying to combat panic buying are in fact panic buying. This situation is being caused by people doing this!

It's worse when you see families of four taking separate trollies and buying everything to get quadruple as much as they need. It's getting completely out of hand with what everyone is doing but it's worse when you get people who can't get the things they need, not what they want. Like, you don't need 90 bog rolls and you don't need a thousand kitchen rolls or 28 bottles of soaps. 

[Goafer]

1 hour ago, Animal said:

It's worse when you see families of four taking separate trollies and buying everything to get quadruple as much as they need. It's getting completely out of hand with what everyone is doing but it's worse when you get people who can't get the things they need, not what they want. Like, you don't need 90 bog rolls and you don't need a thousand kitchen rolls or 28 bottles of soaps. 

But surely you don't need 1 months worth of milk either? I'm not meaning to have a go, but surely you can see where they're coming from when they're just doing what you're doing?

[Beast]

26 minutes ago, Goafer said:

But surely you don't need 1 months worth of milk either? I'm not meaning to have a go, but surely you can see where they're coming from when they're just doing what you're doing?

I know you don't mean to have a go ☺️ but I can't understand it. Honestly.

It's like I said: I haven't been able to get any milk from anywhere for a while. I normally buy two weeks worth anyway but I've bought another two weeks because yet again, I haven't found any since.

I've not gone out and bought thousands of everything like everyone else because I think it's ludicrous that people think they need stupid amounts like they're never going to go out ever again. Like I've said, I've just been buying gradually anyway but I've not been able to get milk for love nor money. Also, they're not buying a month's worth. They're buying so much more and you can tell by what they're attempting to buy/are buying in their trollies. 

People need to realise that they're not stocking up to barricade themselves for months on end. They're buying so many bags of pasta and tinned foods and bog roll but they won't probably even use it all. I can guarantee you that I'll use my milk by next month. Its handy to have anyway because by the sounds of it, I may actually need to self-isolate whereas the majority of people buying these stupid amounts don't. I didn't buy it for that intention though, it was just coincidence. 

Thats why I don't understand it.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Animal

[Pestneb]

I just came back from shopping in 4 shops for a few basics. Flour, eggs, milk, bread, baked beans, tinned tomatoes, pasta, potatoes, rice. shops are empty :|

[Helmsly]

8 minutes ago, Pestneb said:

I just came back from shopping in 4 shops for a few basics. Flour, eggs, milk, bread, baked beans, tinned tomatoes, pasta, potatoes, rice. shops are empty :|

Same. Went to my local Lidl twice today and all the things you mentioned are sold out here too as well as all Frozen food. There's nothing left. Local Tesco express was also empty of basic things.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Helmsly

[Pestneb]

Just to point out, my stock cupboard is very low. I tend to shop only with a rucksack, so I shop often but small quantities. basically I build a stock cupboard then maintain it. That stock cupboard is getting bare now. So while before 4 tins would tend to be ample, I'm needing something like 20 tinsof various things, 8 packs of pasta (we get through it quite quickly) a pack of rice, a bag of potatoes, a bag of onions, a bag of flour, a box of eggs, a couple of loaves of bread, 2 x 6 pint bottles of milk. Which is a bit much for one bag. SO even if tomorrow shops were fully stocked and hoarders all stayed home, it would take a few days, or at least trips, before I was back to my normal situation with my stock cupboard. I assume I am not alone in this. that would put a strain on the shops, but add on that I'm not aiming to get back to my original position but ought to really be thinking about building up a 2 week store in case of us needing to self isolate, and it kinda changes things up a touch. I suspect now it's not panic buyers but rather people simply restoring their standard stockpile + trying to add a bit to it to allow for the situation we are currently in. it's not unreasonable I think of Animal to buy a months worth of milk - I tend to keep about that in UHT as emergency milk - ie whoops I forgot to buy more fresh milk, but ok here's the emergency milk....it's not Animal who is the problem because he actually got access to the goods he needed, anymore than I am a solution for not finding what I need.. anywhere it's those numpties that bought everything up.

On a side note, I am a little concerned about toilet paper now!!! we have enough for maybe 3 weeks if we limit things but I haven't seen tp for a long time now

[Will]

59 minutes ago, Animal said:

I know you don't mean to have a go ☺️ but I can't understand it. Honestly.

It's like I said: I haven't been able to get any milk from anywhere for a while. I normally buy two weeks worth anyway but I've bought another two weeks because yet again, I haven't found any since.

I've not gone out and bought thousands of everything like everyone else because I think it's ludicrous that people think they need stupid amounts like they're never going to go out ever again. Like I've said, I've just been buying gradually anyway but I've not been able to get milk for love nor money. Also, they're not buying a month's worth. They're buying so much more and you can tell by what they're attempting to buy/are buying in their trollies. 

People need to realise that they're not stocking up to barricade themselves for months on end. They're buying so many bags of pasta and tinned foods and bog roll but they won't probably even use it all. I can guarantee you that I'll use my milk by next month. Its handy to have anyway because by the sounds of it, I may actually need to self-isolate whereas the majority of people buying these stupid amounts don't. I didn't buy it for that intention though, it was just coincidence. 

Thats why I don't understand it.

I think it's easy to see where you're coming from, you're not sure you'll be able to buy this for a while so you've stocked up a little more than usual. But this is exactly the same as what those families are doing. You'd be amazed how much stuff a family goes through - they may not be buying any longer of a supply than you are. Unless you have some dietary requirement to drink milk regularly then you could have just gone without or bought the usual amount.

Luckily here the panic buying has stopped, but we seem to be getting more and more strict on people control so it could well come back again. Luckily it seems the government is ridiculously paranoid here and all supermarkets have to keep a three month supply of everything they sell + there are emergency stockpiles held by the government so we should be OK.

[killthenet]

I chew quite a lot of chewing gum so I buy a couple of multipacks from Tesco about twice a week but they were all sold out yesterday. Same for biscuits, the whole aisle had been ravaged. I have burgers once every couple of weeks too but I doubt I'll be able to get hold of any for a while. It is crazy how the small majority panic buying makes everyone else more eager to buy the basics when they see them, I've made a point of keeping an eye out for toilet paper every time I go into a shop on the off chance that they might have some in stock. There are 3 people living in my house - me, my Mum & my Dad. Dad managed to find a 4-pack of loo rolls in Morrison's the other day so we've got about 6 rolls in the house now and we're being extra careful with it to make it last. 

We have a family dinner every Sunday where my brother, his girlfriend their two girls (4 & 8), her 17-year old brother and my eldest brother all come over to my parent's house. Me and my brother's decided yesterday that it was probably a good idea to put a stop to usual Sunday dinner for a while but broaching the subject with my parent's brought a dismissive response. My Dad is 68 and Mum is 58 so they're both theoretically susceptible to suffering badly if they came down with the virus but they just won't take it seriously. I'm as upset as them that I won't get to see my niece's for a while but it's an inconvenience that we will have to learn to live with, especially given that my Granny is in a residential hospital so any contact my Mum has with the little germ bags could easily be spread onto her and the other frail and vulnerable people she shares a ward with. 

It still seems so surreal most of the time, the gravity of the situation sinks in occasionally but it feels somehow distant at the same time. As part of my recovery from crippling anxiety and agoraphobia I started to go for a couple of long walks a day (starting almost 3 years ago now) and I'm still keeping that up now. In general the town doesn't seem that different, there are still plenty of people out and about and plenty of cars on the roads. I'm increasingly seeing people wearing face masks (even though they do nothing) but otherwise the only sign of stress has been when I've nipped into supermarkets to see first hand how low on stock they are. I'm thankful that I'm generally in a much better mood and state of mind these days, I don't think I'd have been able to cope with the increased worries if this had all happened a few years ago. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by killthenet

[Ashley]

@killthenet maybe try and suggest a super big celebratory one for when this is all over, so they know the tradition won't be lost? 

I don't think it's going to make much of a difference but may be worth a try. 

[killthenet]

@Ashley Heard my Mum talking to my Dad earlier and she suggested that we go to the park with my niece's instead so she's clearly coming round to accepting that things have to change but hasn't quite grasped that hanging out in the park with them would undoubtedly defeat the object of skipping traditional Sunday dinners in the first place - the kids aren't exactly going to abide by the social distancing guidelines. 

Shame that you've had to cut your travels short but it's probably the best thing. As over subscribed as the NHS is at least you know that you're entitled to free healthcare over here if you need it. 

[Beast]

8 hours ago, Pestneb said:

Just to point out, my stock cupboard is very low. I tend to shop only with a rucksack, so I shop often but small quantities. basically I build a stock cupboard then maintain it. That stock cupboard is getting bare now. So while before 4 tins would tend to be ample, I'm needing something like 20 tinsof various things, 8 packs of pasta (we get through it quite quickly) a pack of rice, a bag of potatoes, a bag of onions, a bag of flour, a box of eggs, a couple of loaves of bread, 2 x 6 pint bottles of milk. Which is a bit much for one bag. SO even if tomorrow shops were fully stocked and hoarders all stayed home, it would take a few days, or at least trips, before I was back to my normal situation with my stock cupboard. I assume I am not alone in this. that would put a strain on the shops, but add on that I'm not aiming to get back to my original position but ought to really be thinking about building up a 2 week store in case of us needing to self isolate, and it kinda changes things up a touch. I suspect now it's not panic buyers but rather people simply restoring their standard stockpile + trying to add a bit to it to allow for the situation we are currently in. it's not unreasonable I think of Animal to buy a months worth of milk - I tend to keep about that in UHT as emergency milk - ie whoops I forgot to buy more fresh milk, but ok here's the emergency milk....it's not Animal who is the problem because he actually got access to the goods he needed, anymore than I am a solution for not finding what I need.. anywhere it's those numpties that bought everything up.

On a side note, I am a little concerned about toilet paper now!!! we have enough for maybe 3 weeks if we limit things but I haven't seen tp for a long time now

Exactly the same situation as me. I've been buying as I've gone along but even then, it's helped a little but we may need to isolate soon. Thank you for actually explaining it better than I did, LMAO.

Tesco, Morrisons and Asda all had humongous queues. I waited literally half an hour before being served. Shit is crazy. 

[Rummy]

20 hours ago, Ganepark32 said:

My partner and I overheard someone arguing about the lack of Dettol on the shelves and when she was recommended she buy bleach instead she responded by saying that she couldn't drink bleach 

Is this related to that dettol meme that lists coronavirus as something it kills? are people out there GENUINELY thinking its a smart idea try and consume dettol??

[Glen-i]

OK, now it's personal.

I just wanted my weekly bottle of Vimto and some idiots stockpiled them!

Every other soft drink was available, not the Vimto though!

[Rummy]

BoE base rate cut to 0.1% - the economic impacts of covid-19 are getting just about serious because we havent much room to cut more now...

(will ofc ease economic pressures on businesses and homeowners etc. but it isnt enough for a much larger swathe of the population)

[sumo73]

It amazing to see how things have changed over a short period of time and you get to see the value of some people in all of this. The toilet roll thing is crazy and took me several days to track down a small pack of which I gave some away. I have some old newspapers regardless. Since I don't have a car, I have to like others here go back and forth with smaller amounts of shopping but have had to buy stuff that others didn't want and 'kindly' left on the shelves. 

Good luck everyone! We will get through this!

[Hero-of-Time]

10 minutes ago, sumo73 said:

 

It amazing to see how things have changed over a short period of time and you get to see the value of some people in all of this.

 

One of my biggest takeaways from this whole thing is just how nasty and selfish people really are. Fights breaking out over food, elderly being pushed aside, supplies being stolen...it's disgusting. My sister was telling me how a woman went shopping, packed her car, put her trolley back and then when she returned to her car someone had opened her boot and stole a lot of what she had just bought. Ridiculous.

At the start of this the government said how it would require wartime community spirit and efforts to get through this. Back then, everyone looked after each other and people genuinely cared about others. Today's society is all about looking out for number 1 and trample anyone who gets in your way. This outbreak has proved that.

I agree with those who say that social media has a lot to do with the madness that has occurred so far. People are falling for any old rumour and are just acting crazy. Had this outbreak happened in a time before social media I imagine the panic buying wouldn't be half as bad.

[Sheikah]

15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

One of my biggest takeaways from this whole thing is just how nasty and selfish people really are. Fights breaking out over food, elderly being pushed aside, supplies being stolen...it's disgusting. My sister was telling me how a woman went shopping, packed her car, put her trolley back and then when she returned to her car someone had opened her boot and stole a lot of what she had just bought. Ridiculous.

It's stuff like this that almost makes me wish our country was a bit more heavy handed when dealing with these things. At the very least, shame needs to be a bigger deal here like it is in Japan. A lot of people just do not give a damn about how they come across to others and think only about themselves. It's pretty sickening tbh, and I just wish there was some way to hold these people accountable.

[Pestneb]

Just tried to shop online... no time slots available for 3 weeks. ok.. click and collect..... no available slots for 3 weeks. Nice. need full fat milk for my baby, and I haven't been able to find any, we have to stop having milk now so that the milk we have will last a bit longer for her, but on monday we'll be out of full fat milk and have to break into the last semi skimmed UHT pack I have left (I was planning on replenishing that store but things kept happening.. and then the panic buying set in and the UHT was all gone.

 

I don't think most people are selfish in this, it is a small minority who created a crisis, then a slightly larger minority got swept up in it. I was walking around tesco earlier and I had to look at the signs to have any idea what had been on the shelves before. I think I was actually in shock because I was wondering around in a daze, I don't think I believed the scale of what has happened. I have to be honest, tesco guy put some eggs up and I went to take some and had to stop myself, walk away a bit and then come back to kinda get perspective. I got 6 eggs, so that will be enough for a couple of days.

I ended up buying a Pizza because I don't have ingredients to make meals any more, like I wanted to make a lasagne.. I have frozen mince left, lasagne sheets, a little flour, a little milk, butter, frozen peas. So I could make that. But I can't because if I do that my baby goes without. taking all the UHT.. fine. But panic buying all the fresh milk is very not cool. We normally have a roast on sundays, but we probably wont this week because there's no meat when I go to the shops.

[Pestneb]

 

46 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

At the start of this the government said how it would require wartime community spirit and efforts to get through this. Back then, everyone looked after each other and people genuinely cared about others. Today's society is all about looking out for number 1 and trample anyone who gets in your way. This outbreak has proved that.

I think they need to bring rationing in unfortunately.

A bit of rose tinted glasses also - in WW2 people didn't tighten their belts for the good of the country - they had no choice! the black market existed for the same reason panic buying exists today (selfish greed), and ithad the same effect, namely it took products out of circulation and caused shortages for those "playing fair".

My brother and his wife had a miscommunication thankfully, so both bought tp at the same time. I'm hoping they have enough to spare a little. Going out to hunt for essentials again tonight, hope I find something because I am getting genuinely concerned - people in the shop today were saying themselves that they are beginning to get concerned, it's been going on for a while now. I saw some rice on the shelf today, risotto rice but rice is rice, so I took it, I half wanted to take another pack to rebuild my store cupboard but thought there are others in my situation who may be grateful for one of those packs (I think there were only 4 left). I think it's important we "sensible" citizens make little conscious sacrifices which will hopefully allow us to get through this shortage. If we succumb to the hoarding mentality then we pass the pain on to others.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Pestneb

[Pestneb]

Also I have decided to look at this as a game, with rare items (rice, pasta, bread, flour, eggs, milk, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, potatoes, onions) uncommon items (meat... healthier foods) and common foods (biscuits, junk food) although the common group is migrating to the uncommon food category. So my quest is to find rare items each day. today, i found 6 eggs! yesterday, 4 baked bean tins! and who knows what tomorrow holds!

Also I bought some seeds, going to start growing stuff in my garden-if I can't buy it maybe I can grow it. Going to be trying to grow quinoa- I heard they managed in Belgium and I am up for the challenge. it's a complete protein, acts like a carb portion, so it's win win. Also going for lentils and beans (most years are crappy for one crop in my experience, and my brother informs me the soil in my garden is pathetic for growing stuff in so.. hoping the beans might help things out a little. It's a longer term view, but tbh from what I have seen so far I'm not sure how quickly things will get back to normal.

[MindFreak]

Here in Denmark, people panic bought stuff on the first couple of days after the government had shut down the country but after a couple of days, the shops had replenished their stocks and now only a few things are genuinely sold out. I hope for you guys that something like that also happens! 

But yeah, buying huge amounts of fresh food (millk for instance) is just a waste of food as no-one can eat it / drink it while it's fresh anyways. I also saw a photo on Facebook where someone had bought 100 cans of baby powdered milk... That's basically more of a year's supply and that's just mind-boggling and stupid beyond belief. 

[Eenuh]

We've cancelled my trip to Belgium next week to see my family for my niece's and nephew's birthday. Even though Eurostar is still going, the risk is just too big to catch the virus or pass it on to someone else. We would be staying over with my mom and as she's 61 (and her partner is even older), I would be worried about passing it onto her. 

Also getting worried about my sister's wedding, which is in June. The peak of the virus is expected around May and June, so I might not be able to go, or she might have to postpone her wedding entirely.  

 

2 hours ago, Pestneb said:

Also I bought some seeds, going to start growing stuff in my garden-if I can't buy it maybe I can grow it. Going to be trying to grow quinoa- I heard they managed in Belgium and I am up for the challenge. it's a complete protein, acts like a carb portion, so it's win win. Also going for lentils and beans (most years are crappy for one crop in my experience, and my brother informs me the soil in my garden is pathetic for growing stuff in so.. hoping the beans might help things out a little. It's a longer term view, but tbh from what I have seen so far I'm not sure how quickly things will get back to normal.

Funnily enough I invested in a vegetable trug this year (well it was a birthday gift) and last weekend filled it up with compost. I've got some seeds germinating on the windowsill: cherry tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and onion. Also got some carrots to plant straight in there when it gets warmer. Thinking about getting some bags for potatoes too maybe. I have no clue what I'm doing though haha. 

[Ashley]

I'm currently sat in Madrid airport and in total will have been here for about 10 hours by the time my flight leaves (if its on time...) Found out the earliest you can check bags is 4 hours, good to know I guess.

I've booked an Airbnb in Birmingham for two weeks. Figured its best to keep a distance from my nan (who has respiratory problems anyway) and also give myself a bit of space for a bit to process this. Got in touch with my therapist and we're going to do a remote session some time this week. So far I've pretty much buried my head in the sand because I wanted to enjoy what was left of my trip but I know as soon as I start to think about it, it's going to become overwhelming and upsetting. I already get a bit upset thinking about it. I don't even know where to start to think about what I do now. Not knowing is a big problem at the moment; I don't want to stay long-term with my family but then I don't think I'll get a short-term place in London. Also got rid of most of my stuff before I left London and some I can get out of my mom's garage, but I'll essentially be living out of bags until I go again. And then I need to either wait for a lot of countries to start opening up again, or wait for one and spend a long period of time there. And I'm deeply cynical at the moment and think I'll go out again and it'll flare up all over again.

Trying to line some work up in the meantime. Was told I could do a six month thing (but leave beforehand if I wanted) but now apparently they're being hesitant because of what is happening. Kind of a shame as I know 3 people at that particular place (all former bosses of mine actually). Hopefully I'll get some stuff soon as I estimate I've lost £1500 on just returning home and its not covered by insurance so I need to work to get that back if nothing else. Depending on where I end up living I'll also need to start earning some money to cover living expenses otherwise I would have saved for years to be in a country I don't want to be in.

[Ganepark32]

On 19/03/2020 at 9:38 AM, Rummy said:

Is this related to that dettol meme that lists coronavirus as something it kills? are people out there GENUINELY thinking its a smart idea try and consume dettol??

My partner was telling me about that and I suspect it probably does relate to it. Still, if people think they can get away with drinking dettol, then there's really no helping them.

Had to into Dundee city centre to pick up a prescription and you'd think there wasn't a health crisis going on. The city centre is just full of people, predominantly older people but people nonetheless. It's scary how few people seem to be taking this in any way seriously. I was having a near panic attack this morning over the thought of going out and it seems I was right to with everyone just going about their days, going into coffee shops and pubs.

The government has to bring in stricter measures because what they're doing at the moment isn't working from what I can see. People are carrying on as normal everywhere except in supermarkets where people are just stacking trolleys and baskets full of basic items. I had to grab toilet roll, bread and granola and even the more run down shopping centre up here that houses the likes of Home Bargains and Iceland and such was just wall to wall people. The idea of social distancing is completely out of the window. I had people standing right at my back as if it wasn't a problem in Iceland where I had to wait 20 minutes in a massive queues of people just to buy a single loaf of bread (while everyone else is buying 3 or 4 and shouting across the shops how there's no limit on the number of loaves they can pick up).

I'm genuinely shocked at how stupid people are. Well... both really but the current health crisis has exacerbated the worse elements in people. I'm personally restricting my goings out now because others clearly can't. I'm at least sorted for a week or so in terms of food and basics so I should manage but yeah, something really does need to be done to stop people just going out as they are. Shops, pubs and restaurants need to be closed. I know it's going to hit many businesses but they need to do something now as people are still going out who clearly shouldn't be out.

[MindFreak]

My wife is a doctor, and her colleague has got it. Just a matter of time until she starts getting symptoms, I guess. Yay us!