My anxiety has spiked like crazy and I'm learning I'm not alone. I work for a construction company, so a lot of my coworkers are not people to readily admit issues like anxiety. I brought up today that I'm having crazy psychosomatic responses all week (keep thinking my throat is sore or my chest is tight) only to realize a few hours later it was nothing. Most of the 12 people on the conference call said they were having the same issue...

The cruelly ironic part is that weed is legal here now and my girlfriend has a jar full of gummies, but my job tests for marijuana so I can't take the edge off really. I can have a drink or two but booze makes me so groggy.

I went to school in North Carolina. At that time, Durham County was completely dry as far as hard liquor was concerned (beer and wine sales were allowed). There were still speakeasys.

Then I lived a long time in Florida. Florida allows liquor stores but not sales in stores that also sell groceries. So some of the gorcery stores have 2 entrances--one for liquor/beer/wine and one for everything else.

Many different state laws.

California gas is always expensive. Towns separated only by the Colorado River will have gas prices $1/gal more on the California side.

It's because CA requires a special low-polluting gas formula and only refineries in CA make it so they can't bring in the gas the rest of the country uses by pipeline. Basically crude oil comes from Alaska and the Middle east by ship ((and some from CA oil wells) to CA refineries which turn it into gasoline sold only in CA . . . for a lot more.

Yeah once I had to fill up a Tahoe in Cathedral City in 2011

Gas was over 4$ and that was 9 years ago :(

Nice little 110$ tank of gas

If anything, weed might help spike your anxiety.

Maybe tune into youtube breathing and meditation videos.

Good luck, and take it easy, my friend!

following california and new york's lead, illinois' governor will announce a state-wide lockdown starting tomorrow.

these things work like dominoes.

I'm wondering about "non-essential businesses."

My parents have a gardener mow their lawn; I wonder if they're still allowed to do that? I wouldn't mind mowing their lawn for them...

^ i wouldn't think that gardening/lawn mowing would be considered "essential", but it is outdoors and able to be done without getting too close to other people, so who knows?


related to that, our cleaning lady was supposed to come today, but she's an older woman in her 60s with some underlying health issues, and she has to take transit to get around to boot, so my wife told her her to stay home and that we'd send a check to her anyway. hopefully her other clients will do likewise.

And the damage they are doing to everyone are like dominoes too.

The lock-down idea seems to be desperate to me. I hope these states plan to fund everyone for the next 2-8 weeks otherwise they are about to have states of economic ruin.

It is desperate but needed. People don't know enough to stay home on their own. My family lives in NY and they're saying idiots are still out doing stupid things. That state is on the brink.

These lock downs will do way more damage to the world and it’s people than this virus could ever do. My gf for example is a contractor in Ohio for oil and gas. If they shut down the state then she’ll lose her job and get no unemployment. For whatever stupid reason her company won’t allow her to take work computers home. Guarantee they’re about to shut the state down in about ten minutes as that’s when the governor of Ohio is talking. They already shut everything down in PA. Although they deemed oil and gas jobs as life sustaining so perhaps she’ll be able to keep working.

perhaps, but other states will follow.

it's only a matter of time.

like i said, dominoes, once one goes...........




you can either pre-emptively lockdown and end up with a wrecked economy and hope that your healthcare system can hold on for dear life.

or you can do the italy thing and lockdown too late and end up with a wrecked economy AND a guaranteed wrecked healthcare system.


the economy is going to get wrecked either way.

i'm afraid that ship has sailed, my friend.

it's all about crisis mitigation now.

Are you not following what is happening in Italy? Do you realize there are not enough ICU beds for all the severe cases they are experiencing? Are you suggesting that not treating these patients is the better solution?

Rightly or wrongly the vast majority of people cant be at home not working for this much time.

Of course I am. Closing down restaurants etc is a good idea. But shutting down every single job is not a good idea in my opinion. Italy is also a different scenario as most families live with their grandparents and that’s why the death rate is so high.

However everyone is still spreading this to everyone at grocery stores...

What is your proposed solution that would keep jobs going but minimizing transmission of the virus?

True. I have two brothers up there out of work since what they do is deemed no essential. It's bad.

Doesn't California give a break to its gas vendors in border areas where motorists can easily skip across the state line buy cheaper gas?

Here in Quebec we tend to have higher gas prices than our neighbours (Canadian provinces and U.S. states NY-NH-VT-ME) but gas stations close to the border get a break on taxes that is lower closest to the borders, and then decreases gradually and eventually disappears as you move further into Quebec.

At least in comparison to Ontario (closest border to me - only 10 minutes away) the tax break only rarely brings the price down lower than over the bridge. (Though sometimes it does.)

So we always tend to be at least a bit higher, but for most people it at least takes away the incentive to cross over *just* to buy gas.

The CDC has information projected onto the Times Square electronic billboards.

I'm checking the cams, and the aholes that sell their crappy rap cd's are out. I guess they didn't get the message.

Nobody is going to enforce this. And what are they supposed to do; put you in jail (which is going to become almost as much a hotbed of COVID-19 disease as a nursing home)?

If your gardener is willing to do it, nobody is going to stop him. The order, so far as I can tell, even still encourages solitary outdoor activities like dog walking and exercise jogging/bike riding. Lawn mowing is no more dangerous if the mower doesn't come into your house. Maybe Venmo his pay though.

Not that I've noticed. I buy gas when I travel back to SF in Parker, AZ because CA prices apply in Needles, CA, the other option.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...729880/enhance

Well really thats the thing, these are all primarily voluntary

There is no realistic way to enforce this, and at some point very soon people will really panic and they will defy any orders to get food and see their loved ones.

As far as I know, food shopping is considered an essential activity and food stores essential so that should remain authorized although personally I think I have everything I need for a few weeks and I have been supplementing a bit with online orders (but those delivery people are defying the bans and I think that's also OK).

a "shelter in place" order doesn't mean the authorities will shoot you dead if you set foot outside of your home, it just means to suspend all non-essential business.

going to the grocery store is essential business

going to the pharmacy is essential business

even going for a walk, run, or bike ride for some fresh air is ok, provided you keep yourself a safe distance from others.


going to a birthday party at your friend's house is NOT essential business and is EXACTLY the kind of social behavior that a shelter in place order is intended to prohibit.

^^Walking the dog is definitely essential business. Just ask the dog.

It's one reason I have a cat.

Exactly. Some of you are being really spastic and alarmist, and seem more worried about the economy than human lives. I have a sneaking suspicion that really it's about the "inconvenience" this is causing many and people are really just pissed off about that. Just roll with it, people.

Edit: I understand the income concerns, totally, but you'll get by. Apply for the unemployment, seek more gig jobs that aren't banned... These are dire times, and when it comes to survival, this is really what it's about. Hell, in the US, I always felt that apart from really wealthy people, they are the only ones who "live" in the US, the rest of us are just surviving.

I would assume those delivery people are essential; I spoke with one of our regular couriers this morning, and he said that he has been really busy lately, it's almost like it's that peak holiday season again. More people are staying home and ordering stuff online. He says the boxes have become heavier and bulkier; he's delivering stuff like diapers and water bottles.

^
I don’t care about inconvenience. I care about tens of millions losing their jobs and having to lose everything.

that part totally sucks, but it's going to happen either way.

as i told you before, that ship has already sailed. wave goodbye to the good ship Economy.

right now, it's all about preventing the collapse of our health care system, as witnessed in italy.

Cats are very judgmental though. A dog... will go for the walk and be happy. A cat, will go for the walk, but wonder why your making him/her walk on uneven terrain.

Dogs will eat just about anything, cats are picky though. Not that kind of cat food, but this one.

It's a real thing. But allowing people to go to work and still carrying on will only delay the inevitable.

Honestly, it's a matter of what's the lesser of two evils.

Exactly. We're already in a global recession. Best we can hope for is avoiding a depression which is total possibility at this point. Depending how long this lasts and how well we handle it.

Earlier, my gardener question? Where I thought it might be a possibility that I would start mowing my parents' lawn because their gardener might not be allowed to? Well this, from the LA Times, answers my question:

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...57&oe=5E9B1353

Just in case anyone else was wondering.

I know how you feel. We all have different stakes in the game. Right now, I have my two private jets grounded and a yacht stalled in Barbados, and can't get to it. Rough.

...and am out of turlet paper.

connecticut is now going "stay at home" as well, joining CA, NY, & IL.

as i said earlier, once the first domino falls...........

Source: https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/4...it_nosession=1

If I were homeless I'd much rather be on the street or camping in park somewhere than crammed into a massive shelter right now...

Having things delivered and staying out of stores is about "flattening the curve" and even though some don't believe how important that could be, I do because I've run an emergency room.

I see many homeless people (some with their dogs) all over town. They really stand out now that the streets are so empty of traffic. It's heartbreaking to know that some of them are likely to get sick and possibly die out of view in camp sites buried deep in the woods and vacant lots. The homeless and the undocumented are going to be hit very hard. A couple (Hispanic, probably Central American) came to my door yesterday begging for any kind of work. The man stood back looking very sheepish but eager while the woman struggled in very poor English trying to convince me that I should let her husband trim my trees. My trees were recently trimmed. I had no work for them and did not even have cash on hand to give a hand out. The woman looked so desperate and frightened. It broke my heart. What will happen to people like that when everything that sustains them shuts down? Will they even be able to get medical help?

You referring to the Ritz-Carlton as a "shelter", bro?

I already posted San Francisco is renting them hotel rooms (they won't say which hotels but since they are all empty and greedy for anybody to rent their rooms, it could be some nice ones).

I think at least here they understand it's important to provide individual rooms (except to couples). The usual shelter would be like those Chinese temporary hospitals = worse than a nursing home as far as spreading infection. At least the folks in the Chinese hospital were all presumably already infected with coronavirus (though perhaps not flu and other things they could catch from one another). Homeless people in a similar space presumably wouldn't be.

Domino's is hiring 10,000 people to deliver pizzas. Other delivery services are booming too. These ARE good times for a few but you might direct them there if any more come around.

Meanwhile, as above, I assume the only ones still on the street in SF are there by choice, and it WILL be the choice of some, maybe quite a few. They have refused to get involved with the "services" targetted at them for years.

I have the email buried somewhere deep in my inbox but Albertsons/Safeway is hiring about 1,000 people in Flagstaff to help clean/disinfect stores and restock shelves as shipments arrive.

I understand the rules but if you think this will be effectively enforced you are insane.

Unlike Europe they cannot legally stop you from breaking this lock-down unless you are actually diagnosed and forced into quarantine.

I will break the lock-down and I will lie to police if they ask me where I am going and I dont care what anyone has to think about that.

My good friend and his fiancée just cancelled their wedding in June. Must be happening millions of times over.

And where would you be going apart from getting groceries, buying gas, buying hooch (I found out that the Total Wine & Spirits in Pasadena is open until 9pm, so I'll be buying some mead on my way home from trabajo), going to the bank, picking up takeout, etc., that would make a cop suspicious? You *are* aware that you can still do those things, right?

A-muthafukkin-men.

but with everything other than grocery stores and pharmacies closed, where exactly are you gonna go?

if you just wanna aimlessly walk around the deserted city, that's still allowed under a "stay at home" order anyway, no rule-breaking required.

We should keep a small portion of each city as a "quarantine free" zone. That way folks can roam around, party, and Spring Break bro! as they please. However, the agreement should be if they get infected with COVID-19, they don't get treated.

With gyms closed, I plan to go for a run in the park every day. I’m not getting out of shape as a result of this.

Lotta spongebob rambos out there.