Grocery stores running out of things now. Nowhere has flour for some reason, like people are going to sit at home and make cakes for 3 weeks.

Well, I simply said the Google traffic map when I posted it looked about normal for that hour. If you've been out in traffic to places like I-80 in Emeryville and have first hand knowledge, I'll take your word for it. Otherwise, the map that I posted, which was what Google was showing when I posted it, looked not surprisingly different from what I usually encounter.

Congratulations on the rain. I read the Bay Area needs it. But it usually makes traffic worse, not better. By the way, here in Tucson it's 75 degree F with bright blue skies and only 2 coronavirus cases in the county (Pima). Still can't find any hand sanitizer in the stores, though.

I feel the same about people hoarding bottled water and canned goods in San Francisco.

Without power and water, it's time to evacuate before the idiots burn down the whole city with their brilliant plans to cook canned chili on propane camp stoves.

I’m at a local Mexican restaurant where it’s usually packed with a wait time, and there is literally only two other people here. I’m making sure to support places while I still can. Went to the Chinese market a few days ago and bought a ton of groceries, which is also usually packed and hardly anyone was in there too. Meanwhile Walmart’s are all packed with people buying toilet paper and bottled water, because you know a ton of people stuffed in a Walmart is somehow more safe than eating at a restaurant. If anything has been shown from all of this, it‘s that a majority of people are really really stupid.

You can eat canned chil without warming it. Done it. Canned soup too.

No fires allowed in the field sometimes:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/i-kAA...PY/s-l1600.jpg
https://www.ebay.com/i/254495324590?...xoC0woQAvD_BwE

But nothing is edible without hot sauce so be sure to get some of that when shopping.

Biltmore House has closed to the public, although the gardens are still open. If I recall correctly, Biltmore hasn't closed for any extended period of time since World War II. Also, this afternoon the governor banned gatherings of more than a hundred people and closed all the schools for two weeks as confirmed cases in North Carolina jumped from fifteen to twenty-five.

I went to Wal-Mart today to buy some baskets to organize my freezer, and just to see what it looked like... All the fresh foods picked over, no eggs at all, one pallet of toilet paper that had obviously just been unloaded and already attracting a crowd. Later this afternoon, a video showed up on Facebook of two people walking around the Asheville Mall in hazmat suits, much to the amusement of shoppers.

Walking around today and all seemed normal to me. I did go grocery shopping and dreaded going all day expecting huge crowds. I finally went to Marianos supermarket and it was a normal crowd amount. Some shelves were more empty but nothing dramatic. Yup I didn't venture much of the city just several blocks within where I live.

Just got home this evening from spending the day with my parents in their area. Driving home was bizarre---streets and freeways are nearly empty, and it's fucking Saturday night.

Almost makes me wanna go into the nightclub areas later tonight and see what they look like...

Well, my wife will stay home for awhile and will certainly bake a lot of bread. If people do stay home, it's a lot cheaper and better to bake your own, not to mention all the other goodies.
We also a sizeable freezer to store that stuff, and the washer-dryer is not in the kitchen.

On a real personal note as of today my New Zealand-Australia trip, which I was leaving on March 20th is officially canceled.

Birmingham is running business as usual. I has a, bacterial, upper-respiratory infection the week before last and did notice that A LOT of OTC cough, cold, and congestion meds were a bit short in stock.

That being said, we're really not experiencing anything terribly unusual. From what I understood when I went to the Publix in downtown on Friday, things were a bit crazy there on Thursday, but since then it's all been pretty calm.

So? no major disruptions here in The Majic City.

spike in deaths is when other countries have come a bit unglued.. still a little early here.. pre-exponential infection rate

Traffic is down. People are acting weird around each other. People who would normally wave hello were instead ducking their heads and acting weird today. City just limited groups to a max of 250 till May 1st.

I had the same reaction to people yesterday awhile out and about. Today I felt there was much less tension in the air and strangers on the street and in the store said "good morning" to me, which is very unusual in Los Angeles (or, at least, my part of Los Angeles). Thier greetings today made me feel so much better.

It's not "a little early" in the US at all. The situation in the US is far more grave than other Western countries because at least the other countries are testing people and have a grasp on how many people are infected and where. The US response would be laughable if the situation wasn't so grave.

To put things into perspective about how pathetically the US and CDC have been dealing with the crisis, Canada has tested, as of 2 days ago, 15,000 people while the US with 9X our population had tested just 13,000. In a country which is probably the most mobile on the planet that means untold thousands have been infected that should not have been had the the originally infected had access to the test in the first place.

If you were planning to come to an Australian (or New Zealand) city after midnight tonight (Australian time), you'll be asked to self-isolate for 14 days. Effectively, this is a soft way to close the [air] border.

Cruise ships are banned from docking in NZ until end of June and they're banned for a month here in AU.

Whole foods bulk foods section out of a bunch of stuff. Fortunately Americans don't eat much polenta so I could get the coarse corn grain I needed for dinner.

France as entire Europe is going locked down like Italy.

It's been official since yesterday over here; all "non-essential" retailers have to close until further notice, probably for several weeks, maybe up to 2 or 3 months. No one knows.
Non-essential means only grocery stores, pharmacies and things you absolutely need for everyday life will be open.

Everyone is encouraged to stay home as much as they can to avoid spreading the virus too fast, so hospitals are not overwhelmed and can decently manage the crisis.

I'm dumbstruck, speechless at what's going on. If anybody had told me I would ever witness anything like this in my lifetime, I surely wouldn't have believed it.
We're just preparing for the worst lock down since WWII.
That's what's up...