Schools closed Friday, shoppers clear shelves
Sounds like all schools are closed Friday while school commissions and universities work out what to do next.
The irony here is that some workplaces will see an influx of kids whose parents have no other means of minding them, which will create opportunities for viruses to cross over generations and possibly infect other adults who don’t usually encounter children. But I do see that it has to be done.
CTV says shoppers are stocking up as a general shutdown of a couple of weeks feels more and more likely.
Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau was definitely confirmed to have COVID-19 after a recent trip to the UK, so she and the PM are isolating. (Footnote, this also makes nonsense of Trump’s exclusion of the UK from his ban on travellers from Europe. But how can white, English-speaking people bring disease? It’s unthinkable!)
A site called Silo 57 is tabulating a list of all the cancelled events.
Loto-Quebec is closing the casinos. This is getting serious!
Meanwhile, I find myself getting entirely blasé about the cat drinking from my water glass…
Ephraim 09:27 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I think more workplaces are going to let people work from home, which is likely what the government wants, more isolation. What is it about TP… does no one know how to wash their ass in case of emergency? And stocking bottles of water… do they imagine the taps will stop? We will likely go to grocery delivery… stores with few employees just pulling things. Really, people are going nuts for nothing… there are plenty of contingencies.
Ian 09:28 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Yeah, the hoarding is just annoying. There’s really no need.
Kate 09:35 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Ephraim, I take your point, but the idea that we can rely on stores staying open or deliveries being possible does depend on those workers not getting sick, those businesses not shutting down.
Daniel 09:50 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Ephraim, totally agree on TP. Not sure what makes it so special and coveted. I mean, I get that it’s good to have some. But … there ARE other options in this world, if it comes to that. Food, perhaps not. But toilet paper, yes.
Michael Black 09:52 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Of course, once there are stories about people buying up stores, it causes others to rush out too. “I better stock up before there’s nothing”. I admit I’m a tad worried, will there be enough just for normal shopping? That’s part of the cycle. I actually had a good stock,but since I’m not yet able to carry much weight, I’ve used it up in the past few months.
For water let’s not forget the Ice Storm of 1998, they said later we were very close to losing the reservoir because of no power. Since that’s the biggest “disaster” many of us have experienced, that may be behind the thinking. If enough fails, water may be an issue. Besides, they do say you should generally keep some bottled water around, as well as canned goods etc. But “panic” has no real intelligence.
This is all kind of weird because it’s not really a thing yet, they just want to contain the virus. Closing things down now seems premature, except if it actually stops it. I “worry” that it won’t be enough, so isolation will become a longer thing, because it will spread more later. But there are probably two streams, those wanting to limit the propagation, those fearing they will get it. The former is more important now than the latter.
I figure the schools are closing one day more to pause, decide if it should be longer. One day won’t help one bit. Poor kids, a day off but not so much to do.
I don’t plan to avoid anything, I was stuck inside most of the past year, and I’m really looking forward to warmer weather
Joey 10:03 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I think most of us are operating as if this is a short-term aberration from life as we know it, and yet the public health discourse suggests the measures we are taking will have to be in place for months, perhaps a year or more, to effectively contain this virus until a more lasting solution (like a vaccine) is available. I hope I’m wrong, but I am thinking more and more about what it might mean, say, for my son’s school to be done for the year.
Ephraim 10:04 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
There will be enough people to manage to box up foodstuff, to drive stuff, etc.
What might change is that people may have to learn how to cook…. and by that, I mean, actually prepare rice, soak beans and bake bread.
The isolation is to slow progression, so our healthcare system can handle it. Because everyone getting sick at the same time strains things and causes us to have to make decisions about if we think they will recover and what resources we use for that. I’m just wishing that I was on an SSRI still. (Okay, I was on it for pain, but still….)
Vaccine for a virus? We should be so lucky…. still no vaccine for AIDS.
Kate 10:09 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
True, and the flu vaccine is always hit-or-miss. But we do have some solid vaccines for some viral illnesses, so it may be possible.
Ephraim 10:30 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Vaccines only work if getting the disease provides later immunity. We already know that being vaccinated increases your immunity for other diseases. But it’s too early to see what the impact will be on the un-vaccinated. Did it help, or more likely, hurt their mortality rates.
I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop in the US. They were late to testing, as their test kits didn’t work. And even today, they don’t have sufficient number of kits. In fact, their numbers may be low for lack of ability to test… never mind the fact that there is a complete underclass that can’t afford the time off to test, so they just go into work sick. And while the cheeto has said that people won’t be charged for testing, not even their co-pay… that doesn’t cover being treated. 30 million people with no treatment facilities. Which makes me and others ask the question… should our border be closed already.
Essentially, we need to treat this like a giant STI. We need to inform those who we may have come into contact and so on and so forth and get those people out of the mix.
Uatu 10:37 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Meh. Save money on tp and install a bidet attachment on your toilet 😛
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F71iaY6ZQMbL._AC_SX522_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FBoss-Bidet-Attachment-Guarantee-Installation%2Fdp%2FB01FPSKS4E&tbnid=sDOIkrAnvjc3sM&vet=1&docid=sqrhbriYFoH83M&w=522&h=522&itg=1&q=bidet%20attachment%20amazon&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim
jeather 11:07 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Metro visibly emptier today, both on green line heading east from L-G and orange line heading south from Montmorency between Sherbrooke and Square Victoria.
Meezly 11:42 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Looks like all schools will be closed for 2 WEEKS :-O
Blork 11:50 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
There is definitely a bandwagon effect happening. All these cancellations and closures are less because OMG THINGS ARE SO DIRE! as it’s “well that other thing was cancelled so we’ll look pretty bad if we don’t cancel too.”
The above should not be construed as a complaint against social distancing measures. Just some perspective on why so many things are shutting down in rapid succession.
Kate 11:59 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Blork, the effort to interrupt the transmission of the virus will only work if a lot of people can be persuaded to do it at once. Worrying about the effects of peer pressure at this stage is beside the point.
Meezly 12:00 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I agree it’s hard to differentiate between public health strategy and mass hysteria. I do appreciate the pro-active measures city & province are making. Yes, some may be over the top, but they are being safe than sorry. Look at Italy. When they imposed drastic measures, it was already way too late.
Kate 12:02 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I was particularly annoyed when I read that Jason Kenney had said there was no point in acting till things got worse. But if authorities don’t act, it guarantees things will get worse. I’d rather have politicians snickered at for being too proactive than for being late to act.
JaneyB 12:05 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I think we may end up lucky here in QC because our March break was two weeks ago and that’s when people travel. Ontario’s starts next week and many have trips scheduled hence the subsequent two-week isolation measures and the sudden anxiety we’re hearing from TO and the English media. Mostly I’m worried about the effect of the American mess.That’s where we’re most vulnerable, by far. France’s effect would be a close second at least for Montreal.
Chris 13:29 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
I’m surprised you’re all surprised about TP selling out. There’s a thousand different food items you can survive on, even though stores are low on some things, there’s lots of food. But TP & kleenex are the only way to wipe your ass, so of course people don’t want to be without that.
Has a bank run started yet? Anyone notice machines rationing cash?
dwgs 14:39 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
Low marks for imagination there Chris.
Blork 15:05 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
(FWIW, my comment about the band wagon was meant to be a calming note; just pointing out that it’s not the end of the world, and many companies/institutions won’t jump on the bandwagon until some kind of critical mass is reached, which we seem to have reached.)
Ian 15:51 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
There’s still lots of tissues and paper towels – I checked today at a big box Bureau en Gros, Canadian Tore, and Dollarama. I even found wipes as the Bureau en Gros.
TP though, the shelves were picked clean as if by locusts. I went to a couple of neighbourhood deps though and they all had lots of tp. This is just panic shopping.
And no, I wasn’t panic shopping, I just happened to inconveniently run out of tissues and toilet paper right when everyone is going nuts for those exact things. I bought my normal amount, no big deal… but some of my students work in suburban grocery stores and they make it sound like a zombie apocalypse 😀
Blork 22:30 on 2020-03-13 Permalink
It should be noted that most of these stores with empty shelves likely have full store rooms, and behind that, full warehouses. What they lack is enough staff to re-stock the shelves before people take pictures of them empty.
mare 00:06 on 2020-03-14 Permalink
@Blork You’d be surprised how small store rooms are these days of JIT (Just in Time) delivery. And toilet paper takes up huge amounts of space so you don’t want it to clutter your store room. But in a few days there will be plenty of toilet paper from the Sobeys, Jean Coutu and Loblaws warehouses. And it will be bought up immediately by concerned citizens. In our subconscious mind we remember those empty shelves we saw IRL or on tv, and we won’t be able to shed the urgency of buying toilet paper, even though we have many rolls in stock. (Note: the Jean Coutu on Beaubien and St-Hubert, where cars cannot stop because of the street construction, still had toilet paper. The four other stores I visited today—I’m picky even in my apocalypse shopping, we also ran out of many things after 10 days of self quarantine—, had none.)
Chris 11:02 on 2020-03-15 Permalink
dwgs, I guess I should have been clearer: TP & kleenex are the only *usual* way to wipe your ass. Obviously there are innumerable alternatives. But you could say the same about hoarding food: why hoard food when there are alternatives to buying store food: you could hunt squirrels and pigeons after all. But no one wants those crappy alternatives, they want their usual comfortable routine.