Life and times today

[buzz456]

Let's kind of try this again. Please stay on topic. How are you personally being affected by all of this advice from government and in some places orders which who knows if they are even legal?
I'll start out. Down here in Florida all of the restaurants are closed except some are open for takeout. As usual there was a huge run on grocery supplies with people acting like the world was going to end. In Florida we are kind of used to it since this happens every time there is a hurricane watch but this went on for too long making it tough on people that actually needed supplies. Being retired more or less we don't need to go out so the recommendation for us seasoned citizens to stay home has been pretty easy. Went for groceries for the first time since this all started and NO EGGS at the supermarket. On a hunch we stopped at a quick mart on the way home and he had a whole rack of them in his cooler. First I want to give a big shout out to all of the people working keeping things going. We thank you for all you are doing. How is it going with the rest of you?

Footnote. My yard has never looked this good and we are still doing our hour walk every day with the dog keeping our distance from anyone we see.

[harryadkins]

Florence, SC, is about the same. We have hurricane prep too, but this has been very different. I think a lot of the paranoia comes from strong distrust in the government. I hear a lot of people saying, "The reaction to COVID-19 doesn't make sense" and "I wonder what they're not telling us." I'm 67 years old with multiple pre-existing conditions but I refuse to live in fear.

My wife and I have been in for the most part. We've been to the grocery and gotten take-out food. Our church services have been online. Fortunately, we don't have any problem finding things to do in the house or the yard. We're both "crafty" and that helps.

The number of confirmed cases here is relatively low, but rising. There have been some deaths, but mostly older adults with issues. I'm fully expecting us to be in through April. Some think it will last longer.

Harry

[philmoberg]

... How are you personally being affected by all of this advice from government and in some places orders which who knows if they are even legal? ...

In most respects, here in north central Connecticut, it's just another day for me because I've been laid up for over a year with the latest, and possibly last round of back issues. I was just beginning to get over this when we got the self-isolation order. Oh well ...

I'm impressed with how my neighbours and the local businesses have responded to this. They're out ahead of this in ways most of the policy makers would not have anticipated. One may regret that it takes a crisis to bring out the best in us, but it brings out the best in us, which is the important point. I'll bet on citizen-based disaster response every time.

Apropos of government advice and so forth, I've been involved in disaster response since Hurricane Camille. I'll be happy to comment on the situation from a policy standpoint, particularly what is and should be happening, having been part of the effort to stand-up the National Response Framework following the '01 terrorist attacks. I won't comment on partisanism because it is not a part of the NRF, and is counterproductive to effective response.

[artimrj]

In Beaver, PA things are not so strained as we do not have very many contaminated people, like less than 10, with only 2 deaths. The food stores are restocking with some relief. People are not hording so much. I am on a 3 day week, except my boss asked me to come in today to cut stencil for 2 guys on Monday. He gave me cash and not punched in. We are doing 6 hour shifts for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My shift is my favorite, 5pm to 11pm. I will be alone, the way I like it. No dumb questions, no put up with the worst employee we ever had in 21 years, no one using the blow hose at full ear breaking speed, and more, but I will stop there cause I will be gone soon. It don't mean a thing.

Most of our restaurants are doing take out or delivery. So eating is no problem. All the gas stations here have small grocery stores attached to them. Some have hoagies section like a Subway but different. Better actually. Traffic is easy lately, no long waits for 3 or 4 red lights before you get to go through. I live 5 miles away from the shop, it can take 20-25 minutes for me to get home at 4 PM. Now I get through 1 red light if I catch it.

Was talking to my aunt in the Villages, Florida and she reports very few sick people in her county, but only a few in the other ones. No deaths.

The county next to us, Allegheny with has Pittsburgh in it have a lot of problems. They have large numbers of people hospitalized. They have had 114 deaths.

Just a waiting game.

These short weeks I am doing are sweet, get paid 40 hours for 18 hours of work.

[EngineerJohn]

In upstate New York, we've seen quite a bit of changes and with very little time to react.

All colleges switched to online classes the rest of the semester, grade schools are doing the best they can to follow suit, it's hard for a college student to adjust to online classes and you can't hold a child to the same expectation so that is taking time.

All "non essential personnel" are required to work from home or use time off (as of this post rumors are circulating this could go on until the end of April). If you're an office worker, you are saved and can work from home, if you're a laborer, you're expected to eat up time off and collect unemployment until this passes, and then deal with the aftermath that scaled back productions may mean the temporary furloughs may lead into full layoffs.

A lot of businesses are shutdown... A LOT of them; malls, restaurants are all takeout only (if they can adjust). Barely a car on the road during the daily commuting ritual, that is by far the strangest thing among me and my coworkers, we all hate rush hour traffic but the complete absence of it, is just strange...

We have a growing number of police officers and corrections officers coming down with corona as well, which is causing a lot of worry of the virus spreading within the prison system.

Stores are constantly empty on food and soaps and trucks just can't deliver fast enough, even with no rush hour backups to contend with. Stores had to put special hours in place (usually for the first 2 hours they're open) for senior to buy supplies, and now you see a bunch of seniors standing out in the cold an hour before the stores open like everyday is black Friday.

Oh and forget the whole social distancing thing, cabin fever apparently has more of a grip on my millennial generation than this horrid nasty disease.

[CArailroader]

Sacramento, California. Today is the first day I've been out in a little over a week. Had to take the wife into the ER to be tested for COVID on the 19th as she had several symptoms. This morning we finally got the negative results so we drove to get Jamba juice. It was quite eerie
seeing empty streets except for the occasional person out for a run or walk. We're both excited to be able to go back to work tomorrow. We're both essential with no way to work from home.

As for life around us, stores are decently stocked with most groceries. TP and paper towels are still hard to come by. Most people by all accounts are following the stay home order and social distancing if they must be out. Just about every restaurant has switched to carry out or delivery in order to survive. Some businesses remain open by limiting the number of folks allowed inside at one time, but alot have closed for the time being with the number of people filing for temporary unemployment through the roof.

My railroad's passenger service like all the rest around the country have ceased operations for the time being so I won't be doing any of that on the weekends. Our approximate return to service day is April 10, but we'll see what happens. I haven't heard from the freight crew about how work is for them, but I know its alot less than what they're used to. One of my friends who is a conductor for a different shortline nearby says he went from an average of 75 inbounds a day to 15.

Every school in the state is shutdown, but Sacramento schools have been slow to create online classes and so will be behind the other schools in the state as other districts have already switched over to online classrooms.

Most all my friends (millenials in their late 20s) have all been taking the shelter in place and social distancing seriously. Last night our friends and I used video chat to "hang out," have some drinks and play games all through the comfort of our own homes.

I'm hopeful this shall be over soon. Or at least be able to have life return to some sort of state of "normal."

[buzz456]

I have to comment on people standing in line before stores open. Is this people incapable of thinking or are they so frightened that they think nothing is ever going to be replenished? We went to the grocery store a half hour after it opened last week and the place was mobbed with seniors. After nine when regular hours started you could shoot a gun through the place and not hit anyone. New plan for us next time we go we will go later but no way am I going to stand in a line before a store opens. Besides that the pictures I have seen people are not maintaining distance. Double not thinking.
Went for a ride yesterday just cause we were going a bit buggy and 2 PM the parking lot in front of the grocery store was maybe half full. Maybe most have hoarded all they can store.

[Alatreus]

Long Beach, CA area, I'm seeing many changes that were listed in this thread, such as restaurants closing for only drive thru, and empty streets, but it's starting to affect transit systems as well, based on my observations. For example, the Los Angeles Metro that is seen around the LA area had made this measure: those traveling in those buses had to take the back doors of the side of the bus, I noticed this when I was out to get food. And going out to Fresno for something, I noticed that many freeway digital signs are starting to mention about the virus, on how to prevent it.

Alongside that, all of Los Angeles County, the health order became in effect, starting last Friday, where they closed many beaches and trails. Not much to do when the stay-at-home order is in effect, aside from listening to the news about the outbreak that is ongoing, or doing what you could usually do at some such as gaming, or just relaxing. A lot of my friends disliked staying home as far as I can tell with my friends.

The worst of all, Los Angeles County has the most cases California by number.

[ForceGhost]

Life in North Georgia is pretty much normal for me. In the beginning, same as everyone else - no TP as a lot of dimwits made a run on it. Wal-Mart is wasting time trying to restock, if they even have the goods to restock. I dont know how the other supermarkets are doing, as I've started visiting the mom-and-pop stores, which seem to be having an easier time of it.

Restaurants are open, but for drive-thru, carry out, or curbside service. No restaurants that I know of are completely shut down.

The outlet mall nearby is closed. The town Home Depot is limiting customers to 100 at a time inside the stores with constant announcements about keeping distance. A person with a connected device is located at each entrance/exit, logging people as they come and go, and stopping people at the door if the limit inside is reached. Most businesses that are open are limited hours and close down for the night.

As far as my work goes, it is deemed an essential service, so we have been told we will not be shutting down. However, I do wonder how far down the road it will be before we hit a wall. If people are not working. they will not be buying our products, and we have already had a customer cancel a LARGE order that we have been producing since January.

In a strange way, I'm actually enjoying the reduced exposure and lockdown conditions. Fewer people on the roads means less traffic to have to deal with, no lines in the places I do go, and then skies actually seem to be a bit brighter without most of the usual air traffic. Too bad we cant find a balance that would keep things this way, environment wise.

[jgvaughan]

Here in Troy, OH things aren't too bad. My wife and I are lucky enough to have jobs where we can telework. We normally have a couple of weeks of perishable food and a month or more of non-perishable food in the pantry so the rush on the grocery stores really didn't impact us. I know one thing, I'll never tease my wife about buying toilet paper in bulk quantities, and I still don't understand the rush on toilet paper of all things.

Both of our day jobs keep us busy even working from home and evenings are spent with at least a short walk around the neighborhood. Every other night we do pickup meals from one of our local restaurants to help support them during this time. We both have hobbies that help to fill the time. If and when we need groceries it's normally ordering on line and having it shipped or we do Click List or whatever they call it at one of the local grocery stores and go pick up our order.

I'm sure like several of you, I have health issues that place me in a high risk category for complications if I contract the virus. Some would probably say I take too many precautions however my wife says I'm not cautious enough. I won't lie, it's scary. I have three daughters that work in healthcare, one is at the military testing lab at Wright Patterson, one works in a hospital in Columbus as a pharmacy tech, and the third one does home health care for elderly alzheimer's patients. Each of them have passed on stories that are truly sad.

I live about ten minutes from the rehab center that was the hot spot here in Miami County. I have friends that work at that facility and pretty much all of the medical staff have tested positive, along with the patients. The word from them is the same that I hear from my daughters, this thing is bad. I know a lot of people are giving him heat but I'm glad our governor took the steps that he did, legal or not, stepping on people's rights or not. I want people to make to the other side of this and I think we all need to work together to make it through this.

Buzz, I was glad to see this thread, I was just thinking to myself how I hoped everyone on here were doing okay. So with that, my prayers are there for all of you, and may we all make it through to the other side of this situation.

[AmericanSteam]

I also live in Northern California in Grass Valley, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I just turned 72 this week and work at a Chevrolet dealership and am considered key personnel. My job is troubleshooting difficult problems. We service the local sheriff, Caltrans, and highway patrol vehicles. I work 3 days a week at 4 hours each. Because we have furloughed a few people it is easy to stay 6 ft apart here so I am not too worried. The local stores have done well in keeping stock on the shelves. It is slowly getting better. The whole supply chain has been seriously disrupted. There is a high percentage of us older citizens (geezers) here and it is nice that the local merchants accommodate us. Certain products are limited to only 2 per visit and this has cut down on hording.
This will soften in time and things will slowly get to normal, what ever will be.

[artimrj]

I came to work tonight to put my 6 hours in and was told this is the last day for the week and next week off to boot. Something came up from the governor of PA to make the boss change his mind. So I get a paid vacation even though it is not my actual vacation. I got the best boss in the world. He is the one everyone wants. He is a millionaire from owning 7 titanium he sold 20 years ago. Now he just works for us. Doesn't even draw a paycheck himself as he doesn't need it.

My wife has some yeas dear work planned for me Our town of Beaver has a spring clean up every year where we just take our junk to the curb and they pick it up, unless the junk collectors beat them to it

[cnwfan]

Dyersville, IA
Not under a mandatory shelter in place order yet, but it's probably coming. The company I work for is considered an essential business, so work continues but with social distancing adjustments. A large chunk of the office staff now works from home. Only a skeleton crew is on site, and they are there to directly support production. Most meetings are now online, to minimize face to face time. The county the business is in hasn't had any reported cases yet, but the county below us has a couple now.

Schools are out until April 13thish, but it looks like that will be extended until the end of the month. It's looking doubtful the kids will be going back to school at all this year. Trying to keep a 6 year old sequestered and occupied in a house is a challenge, especially when the local playgrounds have been closed. Stores are mostly stocked again, but peanut butter and spaghetti sauce is hard to find. Businesses that are allowed to be open have shorter hours, including gas stations. The local home improvement store is doing a booming business. Adult beverage sales are way up, and I'm proud to be a supporter of that movement. I'm a strong advocate of sanitizing from the inside out, one glass of red wine at a time. Cheers!

[GSkid]

Locomotive Engineer Derailed Train to Wreck Navy Hospital Ship Mercy Over Coronavirus Suspicions, Feds Say

Prosecutors charged a locomotive engineer who worked at the Port of Los Angeles with intentionally derailing a train at full speed near the US Navy Hospital Ship Mercy because of suspicions over it and activities surrounding COVID-19, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro was charged with one count under a little known federal statute of train wrecking, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in the incident which took place Tuesday, according to the 10-page criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

After he was arrested, Moreno was held overnight and subsequently turned over to FBI agents Wednesday morning. Prosecutors allege Moreno ran the train off the end of tracks, and crashed through a series of barriers before coming to rest more than 250 yards from the Mercy in an incident captured on video.

The train leaked fuel oil which required clean up by fire and other hazardous materials personnel, but no one was hurt in the incident. A CHP officer who witnessed the crash and took Moreno into custody told authorities he saw the train smash through a barrier at the end of the tracks before plowing through several obstacles including a steel barrier and chain-link fence. It then slid through a parking lot, across another lot filled with gravel, and smashed into a second chain-link fence, according to the affidavit.

Moreno allegedly told the officer, "You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don't know what's going on here. Now they will," the complaint alleges.

Moreno, who waived his right to speak to an attorney before being interviewed by investigators, admitted in two post-arrest interviews, that he intentionally ran the train off the track because wanted to bring attention to the government's activities regarding COVID-19, and was suspicious of the U.S.N.S. Mercy.

In his first interview with the Los Angeles Port Police, Moreno acknowledged that he "did it," saying that he was suspicious of the Mercy and believing it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, the affidavit states.

Moreno also told investigators he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack. While admitting to intentionally derailing and crashing the train, he said he knew it would bring media attention and "people could see for themselves," referring to the Mercy, according to the affidavit.

In a second interview with FBI agents, Moreno stated that, "he did it out of the desire to 'wake people up,'" according to the affidavit. "Moreno stated that he thought that the U.S.N.S. Mercy was suspicious and did not believe 'the ship is what they say it's for.'"

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/loca ... y/2339287/

Awww yes... we now have engineers going after hospital ships with their locomotives. He eyed it suspiciously for awhile and finally decided to make his move. It was only a matter of time before he was to spring into action. Nice to know that railroad employees are on the front lines fighting for our constitutional rights! A real patriot! Navy seals... sign him up!

Well that engineer won't be operating a locomotive anymore. He wanted attention.....and he got it. This crisis is gonna bring some nuts out of the woodwork for sure. He really showed that hospital ship who's boss.

[Chacal]

When we get suspicions about a government agency, we always wreck a train. That's how we roll here in Canada.