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Keeping this thread relevant to Huntsville/Madison/Decatur area, I thought I would ask those of you out there:
1. Do you think the public's (us) response at least for our area to be within bounds or over the top?
2. If the former then what are you doing to stay prepared?
3. If the later then what have those acts of hysteria have you encountered?
I understand the potential severity of the circumstance. To me as a healthy individual, I view this period of time no more and no less sever then any other time in the case of influenza and more recently other strains of the coronavirus.
Over the course of the past two weeks, we've all watch our investments drop by ~20% due to panic. Meaning our future retirement funds and for some of us, our current retirement funds. This past Friday, government staff supporting large parts of Redstone "worked" from home as a test of potential future telework. I had a co-worker go to the emergency room this past week because she convinced herself she had the virus. Fortunately for her all she had was sinus infection. For me personally, I walked the aisles of Publix Saturday evening to do our weekly shopping only to find bare shelves and refrigeration units in many areas. Public panic. Public hysteria. Arguably, public greed.
I worry how much damage this virus will do to our area. Not so much in terms of sickness and death; those happen all of the time but without the same fanfare and hype of this virus at this time. I worry about the impacts to our local businesses, our kids, our hospitals, and those who deal with depression. In the past when we have been pressed, when times were difficult, and when uncertainty was abound; we rallied together and go the job done. We continued our days. We continued our lives. Things got better.
My wife and I discussed the above and thought we are going to do our part to help by being part of the solution rather than what I believe to be part of the problem. If any one of use feel sick THEN we will stay home. This will be a challenge as we are seemingly having an early spring and pollen will be in the air as thick as ever in our north Alabama home. Oh joy...
So this Saturday we did our shopping.
We went out and ate at a locally sourced restaurant.
Unfortunately, "we" did a little shopping at a locally sourced boutique.
We stayed calm. We did not give in to fear and hysteria.
Status:
"Smartened up and walked away!"
(set 20 days ago)
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Leave it to someone to make this another political thread!
I'm from NY but planning to move to Alabama in a couple of years. My son is north of Montgomery now. We talked about the panic going on all over. I'm not going to let this ruin my life and be obsessed with it like so many others. As a matter of fact - besides the grocery stores - most other businesses have few customers and it's a pleasure to find a machine at the casino or be able to stroll an aisle in a regular store without having to walk around others carts and bodies.
Due to how bad the panic is here - the grocery store warehouses are low on product and I feel bad for those without transportation or the elderly who may only be able to do their grocery shopping once every other week. There will be nothing left for them to buy.
Leave it to someone to make this another political thread!
I'm from NY but planning to move to Alabama in a couple of years. My son is north of Montgomery now. We talked about the panic going on all over. I'm not going to let this ruin my life and be obsessed with it like so many others. As a matter of fact - besides the grocery stores - most other businesses have few customers and it's a pleasure to find a machine at the casino or be able to stroll an aisle in a regular store without having to walk around others carts and bodies.
Due to how bad the panic is here - the grocery store warehouses are low on product and I feel bad for those without transportation or the elderly who may only be able to do their grocery shopping once every other week. There will be nothing left for them to buy.
Yes, and it was only the first reply. Amazing.
I think locally it's been handled well. Schools are closed - a good thing, and a safer thing. It's probably not a good idea to go to the gym or wellness center now, because even though it's stressed, people don't always clean the equipment after using it. Probably not a good idea to fly anywhere right now, but otherwise things are normal for me (retired, so I don't go to work).
The panic buying should go away in a few days. We went to the grocery story this morning and it was well stocked, except for paper products. Hopefully the panic selloffs in the market will cease in the coming days, but I'm not confident about that.
Starting today all Walmart superstores will be closed from 11pm until 6am. One of the reasons is to give time for the workers to restock the shelves. Sams also reduced their hours for the same reason. Hopefully that will reduce some of the hysteria that some employees have encountered when they restocked the shelves during the day.
...Over the course of the past two weeks, we've all watch our investments drop by ~20% due to panic. Meaning our future retirement funds and for some of us, our current retirement funds. This past Friday, government staff supporting large parts of Redstone "worked" from home as a test of potential future telework. I had a co-worker go to the emergency room this past week because she convinced herself she had the virus. Fortunately for her all she had was sinus infection. For me personally, I walked the aisles of Publix Saturday evening to do our weekly shopping only to find bare shelves and refrigeration units in many areas. Public panic. Public hysteria. Arguably, public greed.
I worry how much damage this virus will do to our area. Not so much in terms of sickness and death; those happen all of the time but without the same fanfare and hype of this virus at this time. I worry about the impacts to our local businesses, our kids, our hospitals, and those who deal with depression. In the past when we have been pressed, when times were difficult, and when uncertainty was abound; we rallied together and go the job done. We continued our days. We continued our lives. Things got better...
IMO, since it is something clear cut that made investments lose value, once it is under control investment values will shoot back up.
Things may be rough for some or many, but the light is there at the end of the tunnel.
I'll be the first to criticize our society for being overly fear-driven, and for assessing risk poorly in the favor of erring too much on the side of safety.
But in this case, the response is appropriate at best, and too little too late at worst.
I understand why people are inclined to cry 'overreaction'! Both because exponential math is counterintuitive and because there has been too much aforementioned Chicken Little hysteria about things in the past.
But look to anyone who knows anything substantial about epidemics and they are all pretty much saying the same thing. That this virus has a very, very real risk of overrunning our healthcare system if these measures aren't taken.
While I'm concerned we may not have done enough, soon enough, I'm not freaked out right now because people are starting to freak out. I'd be freaking out if people *weren't* freaking out.
Because that's the math here.
And "freaking out" here is a little bit of a misnomer. People are being prepared and prudent measures are being taken. I've not seen any signs of hysteria. What you see in the stores is pretty typical of what you'd expect of a momentary widespread shift in demand for goods. The inventory on shelves is much, much thinner than most people realize. It doesn't take much of a demand shift to create those empty shelves, but it's not as alarming as it looks.
Shutting down society as much as possible can have a dramatic impact on exponential disease spread. People don't get it, but it's true.
Part of me is kind of hoping that we're *just enough* little too late so that the general public has enough of an allegorical case to pocket for future reference. Because had the government responded perfectly, very few people would have gotten sick and I fear the public would have said "Look! All that reaction for nothing!"
Which would be tragic, because next time (and there will be a next time eventually) it might be a much more frightening virus, and when that 'next time' comes, it might be for the best if whatever happens now increases vigilance instead of causing complacency.
Leave it to someone to make this another political thread!
Due to how bad the panic is here - the grocery store warehouses are low on product and I feel bad for those without transportation or the elderly who may only be able to do their grocery shopping once every other week. There will be nothing left for them to buy.
Realistically, how can you not think of this as a political topic, when you turn on the TV and all you hear is the "newscasters" going on and on, 24/7, about how the President "let this happen"??
As far as I know, "something" occurred in and around a research lab in China, and the virus then quickly spread from there. It was able to spread because the Chinese didn't have anything to combat it with, and worse yet, they tried, unsuccessfully, to keep a lid on it, and it spread, unknowingly, around the world.
This situation hit the "world stage" a little over 90 days ago, and again, the TV news is blathering on about how something "should have been done". How, EXACTLY, should the US have done something about a virus that it was unaware of??
And I don't live in Alabama, but when I logged into this website, a few minutes ago, this discussion was highlighted, and immediately caught my eye, so I joined the discussion. I turned on my TV this AM, and I'm hit with my local politicians announcing all the public offices, schools, etc, that will be closed, and how we residents should "stay home", and possibly consider staying home for 2-3 months, but of course, don't panic. If I stay home, how will I get food? If I don't patronize the food stores or restaurants, how will they be in business, after this deal blows over? I have an appointment, tomorrow, to get a haircut. It's already been 6 weeks since I got my haircut, so if I wait for another 3 months, it will be down my back.....and without any income, my barber may not be in business, either. The Governor of New York is rattling on, about how we need more hospitals....but wait, we didn't need them this time last year, and won't likely need them this time next year. But he's trying to score "political points" with the residents, trying to look like he's doing something. So yes, it's political.
And with the state and federal Government sending out all these decrees, on a daily basis, it's automatically a "political discussion"......
Realistically, how can you not think of this as a political topic, when you turn on the TV and all you hear is the "newscasters" going on and on, 24/7, about how the President "let this happen"??
As far as I know, "something" occurred in and around a research lab in China, and the virus then quickly spread from there. It was able to spread because the Chinese didn't have anything to combat it with, and worse yet, they tried, unsuccessfully, to keep a lid on it, and it spread, unknowingly, around the world.
This situation hit the "world stage" a little over 90 days ago, and again, the TV news is blathering on about how something "should have been done". How, EXACTLY, should the US have done something about a virus that it was unaware of??
And I don't live in Alabama, but when I logged into this website, a few minutes ago, this discussion was highlighted, and immediately caught my eye, so I joined the discussion. I turned on my TV this AM, and I'm hit with my local politicians announcing all the public offices, schools, etc, that will be closed, and how we residents should "stay home", and possibly consider staying home for 2-3 months, but of course, don't panic. If I stay home, how will I get food? If I don't patronize the food stores or restaurants, how will they be in business, after this deal blows over? I have an appointment, tomorrow, to get a haircut. It's already been 6 weeks since I got my haircut, so if I wait for another 3 months, it will be down my back.....and without any income, my barber may not be in business, either. The Governor of New York is rattling on, about how we need more hospitals....but wait, we didn't need them this time last year, and won't likely need them this time next year. But he's trying to score "political points" with the residents, trying to look like he's doing something. So yes, it's political.
And with the state and federal Government sending out all these decrees, on a daily basis, it's automatically a "political discussion"......
Alabama was one the last states to have a case of the COVID-19. For that reason it has been kind of surreal for me. It finally became real when I heard about the panic buying and the closings of schools, businesses and the canceling of events in Huntsville, Madison, and Madison County.
A politician once said "You never let a serious crisis go to waste." While COVID-19 and its affect are real its obvious that a lot of politicians and the media are hyping it for political reasons. I can remember a time when people came together during a crisis. That hasn't been true for several years now.
While I agree that much of the hype is political I realize that limiting social contact for a period of time is probably necessary. One healthcare official said we need to bend the curve on the rapid growth of new cases. This was to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed like it has in some other countries. How long it will be necessary and how well that works is unknown at this time. Alabama like other parts of the country are in a wait and see mode right now. Thirty days from now if the number of COVID-19 cases have at least leveled out then we can have the hope that we can survive this.
Status:
"Smartened up and walked away!"
(set 20 days ago)
11,767 posts, read 5,780,104 times
Reputation: 14185
Quote:
Originally Posted by zenjenn
I'll be the first to criticize our society for being overly fear-driven, and for assessing risk poorly in the favor of erring too much on the side of safety.
But in this case, the response is appropriate at best, and too little too late at worst.
I understand why people are inclined to cry 'overreaction'! Both because exponential math is counterintuitive and because there has been too much aforementioned Chicken Little hysteria about things in the past.
But look to anyone who knows anything substantial about epidemics and they are all pretty much saying the same thing. That this virus has a very, very real risk of overrunning our healthcare system if these measures aren't taken.
While I'm concerned we may not have done enough, soon enough, I'm not freaked out right now because people are starting to freak out. I'd be freaking out if people *weren't* freaking out.
Because that's the math here.
And "freaking out" here is a little bit of a misnomer. People are being prepared and prudent measures are being taken. I've not seen any signs of hysteria. What you see in the stores is pretty typical of what you'd expect of a momentary widespread shift in demand for goods. The inventory on shelves is much, much thinner than most people realize. It doesn't take much of a demand shift to create those empty shelves, but it's not as alarming as it looks.
Shutting down society as much as possible can have a dramatic impact on exponential disease spread. People don't get it, but it's true.
Part of me is kind of hoping that we're *just enough* little too late so that the general public has enough of an allegorical case to pocket for future reference. Because had the government responded perfectly, very few people would have gotten sick and I fear the public would have said "Look! All that reaction for nothing!"
Which would be tragic, because next time (and there will be a next time eventually) it might be a much more frightening virus, and when that 'next time' comes, it might be for the best if whatever happens now increases vigilance instead of causing complacency.
Well I'll have to disagree because the shelves in many of our stores here are empty. Just returned from Aldi's as I thought I'd pick up more dog food - no eggs, milk, fresh meats, cheeses TP, PT or water. The warehouses are low and Sat they had 2 deliveries, Sunday one and there won't be any today so they may be closing early. Of course there is more panic here due to the NYC cases - although we live 8 hours away from NYC. Alabama just reported it's first cases a couple of days ago - Hopefully, people won't go into panic mode like I've seen here but better to be prepared than sorry.
And unfortunately, the younger folks aren't paying attention to the situation. Our health dept put out guide lines for businesses that will stay open like bars and restaurants. They are suppose to keep it to 50% capacity - 3 already were shut down the 1st night by the health dept because they didn't follow the rules. I've seen plenty of talk on the different forums that these students plan to enjoy Spring Break - Covid or no Covid - some were actually laughing about how many people they could infect.
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