Have you seen the scenes in US and Australia (and other countries) of supermarket shelves being stripped empty? I haven't seen any of those kinds of scenes in China (not that I necessarily think the Chinese government would allow those images to be published).

But it is clear to me, for at least the Australian context in its response to the virus, that we won't be able to achieve anywhere like the success that China has (or seems to have had as I doubt that they have had no new cases) with its lockdown measures because, as a society, we are too selfish and self-centred compared to the more socialist ideals of China in terms of looking after society as a whole.

Also, I agree with Booker that for many workers they just aren't set-up to work from home which is why we are doing everything we can to avoid total lockdown and why at least for Australia we are keeping kids at school so the parents can continue to work rather than have to stay at home to look after them. It is an unfortunate circumstance that the teachers find themselves in as sort of test subjects for the virus (or babysitters as others have called them) but at this stage it is necessary if they want to increase the chances that their partners, the parents of the children they teach and their immediate family members don't lose their job.

In Australia, they have actually put marks on supermarket floors which show the distance you should be to the next person with a trolley at the checkouts in order to comply with social distancing.

My wife and I both agreed that the kids don’t leave the house except to play in our yard with the dogs. We told our 12 year old son that he’s not allowed to go to his friend’s houses or vice versa until this all blows over. He’s been fine playing xbox all the time.

We are pretty stocked up so no one leaves the house. If anyone does leave it’s usually my wife and she takes precautions. We either face time or talk to relatives on the phone. We’ve been doing this for about 10 days and no one seems to mind. It also makes it easier that both of our jobs are paying us until at least April 15th.

I guess there's no way around this stuff. It's everywhere now so what's a few more cruise ship passengers?

gf can not WFH. Refuses to wear a mask because it will make her look stupid. I am so ****ing furious.

Hey, Trump's not a shipping clerk bro.

Ok. I was going to suggest the same, except with wording that would make me seem to be the more reasonable of the two of us

masks are useless if you're not showing symptoms though, is she sick?

Paging Suzzer, Suzzer please pick up the white courtesy phone

If everyone wore a mask it would be much more difficult for viruses to spread.

Sister n law is a doctor at a local hospital pretty much east Texas (13 cases so far). They have a lot of staff at hospital but so much so that they're all crowded in a room waiting on something to happen. Tripping over each other. Said she was freaking out over it and sent a lot of em home and said she'll call them if she needs em. Couldn't imagine working in a hospital setting right now.

Most people walking around like everything is normal. Its a hoax, its just the flu, im healthy i'll be fine (brb lemme take my blood pressure meds).

10 day since I've been in public and had on mask, protective glasses and gloves and people thought I was a looney nutcase. I don't see how its not like Italy or worse in every city and town across the country eventually.

The height of the epidemic in the US was around 1995; worldwide, it was around 2005.

wow man I hope you have a blip in your prognostication skillz ... don't underestimate science, an effective med then a break in summer then a vaccine

How many meals/days are you stocking up for? I think I have about 50 meals, usually only eat one a day ... not sure if that is even close to enough no idea. I was one to always eat out once a day so never had any stock of food at home other than a few days of snacks.

I wonder why HCWs are complaining about the extra risks they will face if the diminishing masks supply isn't replenished soon? Who should I believe? Xenoblade or HC professionals?

Ok, similiar here. Kids don’t leave the house unless it’s to play in our yard/driveway. Every now and then we take a drive to nowhere. They miss their friends/cousins etc but FaceTime is as good as it gets.

We aren’t stocked so one of us will go out when we need stuff, as off hour as possible.

Kids taking it harder though. Hell they even miss school.

This is going to cause major issues for a lot of kids. Sad but unavoidable.

HCWs are delusional if they think their IQ is anywhere near that of Xenoblade's. His takes on this situation have been spot on since day 1.

For the first time in my life, I counted my toilet paper rolls and wondered if it was enough.

Friend just said that his son is being called up by his Nat. Guard unit...how much longer before non-essential interstate transit gets shut down?

https://howmuchtoiletpaper.com/

Don't forget the advanced options.

I hear ya. I hoping for the best and for sure hoping for a break in the summer.

Wat?

Why do you think medical professionals wear masks?

The reason why we keep hearing for people to not wear masks if you don't have symptoms is because people hoard them and there are none for medical professionals who absolutely need them.

I'm hoping for those first two things, but I'm not counting on them.

It's also possible the vaccines don't work, or the virus mutates into something more deadly like the Spanish Flu. These are things no one wants to think about.

This guy ****s.