Posted on 03/03/2020 10:17:37 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
What unusual things are you observing caused by the Coronavirus / COVID-19 scare?
Last night I was walking in downtown Menlo Park, California from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM. It was a beautiful, warm evening. But the town was almost deserted and the restaurants were maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full. There were a few bums on the streets pushing their shopping carts full of treasures, but they didn't seem concerned about catching an illness. One Asian woman walked past me on the almost-deserted sidewalk wearing a facemark.
This afternoon (about 3 PM) I took our dog walking on the Charleston Slough levee in Mountain View. It was about 75 degrees and a glorious blue sky. This is very close to Google world headquarters and usually the levees are packed with walkers, joggers, bicyclists and runners. Today I passed maybe a total of ten people in the 2.5 miles we walked. At one point, I could look a half mile ahead of me and a half mile behind me and see no one. That is really weird. The funny thing is that, with no people on the levee and with the clean fresh air on the bay, you probably have lower risk of contracting the disease than anywhere else on the Peninsula. Go figure!
Driving out of that part of Mountain View on a normal day is really hard because of all of the Google traffic and commuting busses. Today there was very light traffic headed away from the bay back toward Mountain View.
I went two weeks ago and stocked up her pantry because I knew she wouldn't do it. I really would like her to leave. We've been bickering about it every night. I told her last night, "I can't come there if you get this thing". Honestly worried sick over it.
Primary Day?
I don’t think you posted the link you meant to.
Business as usual in Atlanta. Traffic still sucks and the usual heavy rainfall seems to bring out the worst drivers.
What causes entire species to get wiped off the face of the earth?
Lies.
We’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn this lesson, and we have not.
We’ll find out soon enough.
The big news in these parts (NorCal) is the run on arugula. The Whole Foods arugula section is bare! And they are down to the last couple chunks of Brie.
“Primary Day”
Good point - hadn’t thought about that. So many people do mail-in / absentee ballots and early voting that I doubt that, though. I’ll be doing more hikes soon and will compare.
Now that there’s a virus case in Wake county NC, I’ll probably hit Sam’s Club here in Charlotte to pickup some canned food and paper goods, maybe batteries. Hope there’s some TP left.
I can’t stand Costco. It’s always crowded. We got a membership to Sam’s which is always far less crowded, unless theres a pandemic on the horizon I guess.
They have an app where you scan your items when putting in cart, slide to pay and head right to the door. Skip any register lines and don’t have to touch any card readers etc.
All three auto parts stores were out of valve covers for my engine. I had to wait until late afternoon before the covers were shipped to my local store. Fortunately, the valve cover gaskets were plentiful, so I had the car up and running by noon the next day.
Nobody died of anything during this critical exercise.
bkmk
bkmk
Local Hayden, ID custom shops feeling first economic symptoms of coronavirusI know you were kidding, but even mundane things like valve covers ARE affected.Coeur d'Alene Press
By Craig Northrup, Staff Writer
February 29, 2020The coronavirus has launched a ripple effect that can be felt across the globe, from the now-2,800-plus dead to the 83,000-plus diagnoses to worldwide fears that have spiked sales in respiratory masks and bottled water.
The arrival of the virus — originating from what Chinese officials believe was an exotic food market in Wuhan — has also sparked an economic downturn that begins in China but has since made its way to Kootenai County, Idaho. Now, from shipping to handling to simple concern for their employees, some local companies are taking extra steps and facing new challenges as they navigate these uncertain times.
“There’s no doubt [the coronavirus is] having an impact,” Coeur d’Alene’s Danny Albert told The Press. “Most definitely.” Albert runs a custom racing shop on Hayden Avenue in Hayden. Albert, who hails from Laguna Beach, Calif., said he has been in the racing game for more than 20 years. He said he’s already seen how the disruption in shipping along Asia’s shores have now impacted his passion.
“Usually,” he reported, “if you order something overnight from China, you should expect it in two days. But now, I’ve got my people telling me it’s going to be a week. Maybe 10 days.”
Nations across Asia have sealed off their docks against vessels originating from Chinese ports. American ports along the Pacific from Tacoma to San Diego are taking extra precautions with goods received from China. Seven of the 10 historically-busiest shipping ports in the world are in China.
For some businesses along Hayden Avenue, the first economic symptoms have already emerged. It’s a problem, Albert said, that requires patience. His “people,” he explained, are third-party distributors from Las Vegas who serve as middlemen to get the parts he and his customers need. It’s a common path to take for companies focused on building custom vehicles, from cars to boats to motor homes to four-wheelers.
“It’s a tough time over there right now,” Albert said. “And right now, everybody’s pretty understanding. They’re proactive with us. They’re telling us up-front. Nobody’s taking our orders and then saying, ‘Hey, we can’t [fulfill] it.’ They’re letting us know up-front: ‘Hey, this could be longer than a week to 10 days.’”
Amy Bloem of Stan-Craft Boats — just a block away from Albert on nearby Dakota Avenue — said the iconic boat manufacturer’s supply lines haven’t yet been disrupted, but she admitted her company is having trouble keeping a surplus of a hot item in the era of pandemic fears. “We’ve noticed that we can’t keep as many respiratory masks,” Bloem said. “We have enough right now, but we like to keep a good supply on hand, and that’s been a challenge.” Bloem said Stan-Craft keeps theirs for their workers, who utilize the masks to keep airborne particles out of their lungs during the boat-building process. Bloem said the company has enough masks to continue doing business, but even the thought of running out gives her pause. “It’s something we’re always used to having plenty of,” she said.
Colby Shields runs INW Performance, a Hayden Avenue company that focuses on automotive performance. He said he hasn’t seen a disruption yet in his supply line, but the risk coronavirus exposes to him and his employees is always at the forefront of his mind. “I get packages from all over Asia,” he said. “I get them from Japan, Russia, Korea, everywhere. I make sure to disinfect every package I receive.” The parts, Shields said, isn’t the only interaction that gives him pause.
“I got some of my customers in China right now,” he said, tapping his finger on his desk. “Right this minute. They’re going to come back and ask, ‘Hey, do you have my car ready?’ And I’ll have it ready, but what am I supposed to tell them? ‘Uh, yeah, but I need to wait a couple weeks before you come by, because I don’t want you getting anybody here sick.’ That’s no way to do business.”
Danny Albert works from his Hayden shop on a custom V-Twin. He said he’s been proactive communicating with distributors, who have told him the coronavirus outbreak that has placed a stranglehold on Asian ports has already delayed his shipments by more than a week. “We just gotta be patient,” he said.
I am not yet dissuaded from what that alternative news empire out of Austin is saying: this was released by the Chinese both as an excuse to lock down on its own people (no more Hong Kong protestors in the streets!) and to try to take down the US economically. Of course, this it is a massive move on their part to so choke their own economy if that is the case.
And likely well more than the flu anyway if it is accidental and they are having to choke their economy to slow the contagion.
Thanks for the 1,000 word response to my valve cover crisis.
Here’s the keyword phrase in the article: ““Usually,” he reported, “if you order something overnight from China, you should expect it in two days. But now, I’ve got my people telling me it’s going to be a week. Maybe 10 days.”
The man must have a supply chain that’s not available to us mere mortals.
A friend needed a gear for his differential gearbox and special-ordered it from China.
He placed the order in mid-september and waited 47 days for the part to arrive. That’s before the virus hit.
In all likelihood, the ChiComms had to first mine the minerals from their slave-labor camp in Africa in order to make the gear. Then a slave-labor manufacturing plant had to be built in Pakistan to fashion the gear from the African mined minerals. The part was then shipped via camel caravan along the old Silk Road to Turkestan, where it was loaded aboard an old DC-3 for delivery to the auto parts shipping warehouse at an obscure shaolin temple in the Qinling Mountains.
After the monks deemed the part to be within 0.05 milimeters of acceptable tolerances, the part was packaged and delivered to my friend, who found that the ChiComms forgot to properly anneal the bloody thing and it melted like an icecream cone all over the gearbox.
My point is, the ChiComms have never been known for speedy delivery of anything!
Hey, “valve cover” requires a 1,000 word response. At least I was able to swipe Craig Northrup’s 1,000 words.
I like your supply chain description. Very creative.
I’ve bought a few small electronic items on eBay made in China. I’m always amazed that the parts arrive in a few days to a couple weeks max. I guess they avoided the Silk Road camels. Of course, that was before the current panic.
The contamination you mention is because their response is overwhelmed and like any place else, they are not some monolithic paragons of correct behavior. They are probably worse than most.
Because they are such a closed and censored society, I guess we will never really know.
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I beleive that overwhelmed, they would pile bodies on the ground in a parking lot or garage, not carry them and put them on chairs instead of the floor. There were only about 7 or 8 bodies - if overwhelmed - the waiting room would be of little use handling the overflow. Just my opinion.
I agree with you that we’ll likely never know
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