Thought I would start writing a regular diary on my blog to document what is happening here to us regarding Coronavirus.
Current Data
As of the time I write this, it doesn’t seem that British Columbia (BC) has been affected too badly by the virus. Currently, out of a population of about 4.9 million, there are 64 confirmed cases in BC out of a total of 152 in Canada. Sadly, one person has died in BC.
There have been some cases where people have just come back from visiting Egypt or Iran. Visitors from Washington State, in the US, now appears to be a problem in spreading the virus. Businesses will drive up to BC to deliver goods, American’s come up to buy the cheap medication they can’t afford in the US, and there is also the tourism factor.
Local Impact
We know of a couple from our community who were on the Japanese cruise ship and are currently stuck in Japan being treated. One half of the couple appears to be in a serious condition, not well enough to travel back home to go into isolation, I hope he pulls through.
We learned today that someone in our building is being tested for COVID19, if positive they will go through the motions of tracking who they’ve had contact with. Within a close-knit community, they could have had contact with us but as yet that person has not been identified due to privacy reasons.
Most events in our immediate community have been cancelled or postponed. About 70% are senior citizens who cannot take a risk in catching the virus in social gatherings, so trimming down contact with locals seems the sensible thing to do.
Shopping
There has been a sharp spike in panic buying here. We have been to most of the local stores to get our regular day to day items, we already have the most long-term items in our house. We notice stores haven’t been able to re-stock in-demand items like face masks and hand sanitizers.
Costco: Probably the worse store for rudeness, people fight for toilet rolls and other items which have a long storage cycle. The experience we had in there makes me wish I never had to go there again.
Save On: This has been the quietest store, probably the most expensive too. They have the shortest lines.
Canadian Superstore: This is a huge discount type of supermarket. At the beginning of the week it was fairly quiet but today each check-out had a least 30 carts lined up, it was a nightmare. The store was incredibility unprepared for this panic buying apocalypse and those just picking up a few items were the victims against those picking up trolley loads of items to sell on Amazon or eBay.
Challo: Similar to Canadian Superstore they hardly had any customers at the beginning of the week but today it was incredibly crowded. Unprepared for such a long line of people with only a couple of check out’s open, hopefully in the days to come management will review and put on more staff.
I have to say all staff are doing a simply amazing job coping with the increased workload despite many customers being extremely rude to them.
Going Out
We have decided we are going to limit our contact with people with effect from tomorrow (14th March). We are in that “at-risk” group of people so the less exposure we have with large groups of people will be better for us. Luckily we have a lot of space to go out and exercise plus plenty of work and entertainment to keep ourselves amused.