This virus is making our government close almost everything except grocery stores and pharmacies, they also stopped all public transport services except taxi.
But to make things worse, we had 2 big earthquakes this morning in our main city Zagreb, M5,4 and M5,0.
Lots of buildings and houses damaged and also a lot of them not safe to live in any more.
So people who should be inside to be “safe” from virus now have to leave their homes…
Things just keep getting worse 
saw that :(
hard times...
Stay save all together!
I have always been a believer in keeping a supply of the nonperishable items on hand. So back in late January, I made certain that we were stocked. I bought some extras, but we already had 30 rolls of TP. A case of paper towels. Assorted canned goods…. 24 cans of sardines more or less the same of Alaskan salmon, tomatoes and tomato sauce. I buy pasta and grains in 12 to 25 pound batches. But the quantities are not unusual for us. My parents always had bought things in volume so I think they were an influence on me. I don’t consider myself a prepper, just an old Boy Scout. (73 years for reference)
However, we mostly eat fresh foods. The leafy greens, fresh tomatoes, avocados, etc don’t store well for long times. Many of the canned foods that are for emergency use never get eaten by us. A couple of times a year I replace things that have reached or past their “best-by” date. I know that the best-by dates are not expiration dates. The food is still fine to use. I donate those items that are past or near their best-by dates to the local food bank after I buy replacements. I think the food banks may need an infusion of donations at this time if people are unemployed because of closures and if the social aid from our government is not stepped up. I know there are locales who do not have the ability to keep more than the next weeks worth of food on hand in normal times.
Some of the local restaurants have banded together in their food purchases and are taking orders from individuals to order foods from them. The wholesale food suppliers still run their trucks to the restaurants.
Went to my local grocery store to stock up today. Went in right as the store opened at 6:00 a.m… Maybe 15 other people there waiting for the doors to open.
By the time I finished my shopping a half hour later there were 60 or 70 cars at the store. I got almost everything on my list, but pickings were somewhat sparse. Only 3 packages of ground beef in the entire store.
My friend from Austia says they felt it over there too. They are near Slovenian border.
“COVID update: Keep reusable bags at home”
New Hampshire retail stores are being ordered to temporarily transition to the use of single-use paper or plastic bags because of the risk that reusable bags could pose a risk of transmission of the coronavirus.
In the order issued late Saturday, Gov. Chris Sununu directed all grocers and retail stores in New Hampshire to transition to use only new paper or plastic grocery bags provided by stores “as soon as feasibly possible.”
“Our grocery store workers are on the front lines of COVID-19, working around the clock to keep New Hampshire families fed,” the governor said in a statement. “With identified community transmission, it is important that shoppers keep their reusable bags at home given the potential risk to baggers, grocers and customers.”
^
We have been required to do that here[PA] since Wednesday March 18,2020.Every little bit helps.
I am done shopping for a few weeks. I get there at 6 am right when it opens,small town, small store. Only about 15 people when I leave.
Well where ever one shops by car, groceries can just be wheeled out to the parking lot in the cart and then loaded into re-usable bags inside the vehicle. That’s actually what I‘ve always done on my cargo bike, simply because I never remember to bring my bags inside with me. Also most supermarkets here have added self-checkout lines, so there are not as manly cashiers exposed. Feel bad for those working at the local Aldi though because they haven’t made that upgrade yet and are terribly understaffed right now; there were only two employees working the entire store the other day and a lot of the shelves were almost or entirely bare.
Yeah, on the one hand I like the self serve checkouts but at the same time I don’t like them as self check outs eliminate jobs.
That is an awful lot of effort on a 3 or 4 hundred dollar shopping trip, or just about any shopping trip that involves a large amount of groceries.
It seems like America is moving backwards in more and more areas, grocery bags were just fine and a nice clean modern way to carry groceries.
Did you know in other countries like France it’s typical for the cashier to be given a soft chair to sit on? The counter is lower to accommodate the sitting position too. That seems so civilized.
Basically agree but in my area stores are perpetually understaffed. Self checkout allows the same number of employees to keep the place running while shoppers needn’t wait on such long lines, if at all. At the old ShopRite it would often take over twenty minutes to get through Express; now I’m in and out of the store in just a few minutes. Much safer this way though obviously wasn’t the original objective.
We would still be living the good life if people didn’t think it was too much effort to recycle plastic bags. There’s one hanging from a tree behind my house, blowing in the wind as I write this.
It does seem to me though, that years and years ago, before there were all these self serve checkouts, there were more people as cashiers. Lines were reasonable most of the time. My memory may be faulty but it seems to me that 30 years ago there were seldom long lines like I see today. Present conditions are making lines longer is some stores.
Plastic bags have never been recyclable, and most designed only for single use. Even the supposedly re-usable bags sold in supermarkets rarely last any length of time before disintegrating. Nylon or waxed canvas bags are the way to go.
Yes, I’ve seen that. Also in most EU countries the norm has been to bring your own bag/sac to take home your purchases for decades.
Same here, strangely enough.
I thought it was just retarded to ban those bags, which made perfectly convenient garbage-pail liners for the office, bathroom, etc. When full, just yank up on the handles, tie ’em together, then plop the bag into the Big Trash.
Now… what? Have to buy separate bags made specially as garbage-pail liners?? So… use pristine new bags for garbage, instead of repurposing already-used bags.
Or do without liners, let the inside of the pails get all grungy and disgusting, then have to scrub them out periodically.
New York just did away with plastic bags beginning of March. Watch them do as NH and reverse it. Unless the reusable bag is washable, they are bringing germs into the store even in good times. I too use the plastic bags as garbage can liners in the bathroom. Also put my mail in them as I get it at the post office. They weren’t single use to me. Also put compostables in them. Kept my paint brushes and rollers from drying up when painting.
The virus is AIRBORNE, and if you live in a building with hundreds of other people and share the same heating and air conditioning system, breathing the same air, then you are at great risk. This is why it is not getting better in Italy.
Ah ha! I found the picture I took of the checkout at a French grocery store. Notice the comfy chair. If you are confused by the small stores in the background, it’s because this store exits into a mall.
