How's everyone doing amongst the Coronavirus shut down? (Reading: affordable apartments, leasing agent)

[Pine to Vine]

I haven’t been too terribly bored yet. I do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise each day (plenty of suggestions on the web), I have a nook full of books, there is Netflix, and I’ve cleaned out several drawers. The hubby and I have made some delicious dinners and had great conversations over a bottle of wine before doing the dishes. We’ve been able to get out for walks when the weather permits.

All that said, I’ve also escaped my own four walls by making 2 trips to Delaware to check in on elderly family members in the last couple of weeks. I have had concerns about bringing the virus in or taking it out, but with family, you have to do what you have to do.

I’ve made it a point to avoid watching too much news. I catch up on overnight developments each morning on my iPad, try to watch half an hour of local news and I spend 30 minutes with Lester Holt each night, but I don’t saturate myself with wall-to-wall coverage. Reading, walking, cooking and escaping into tv and movies is heathy at this time - at least for me. There is only so much I can do about all this, so I stay informed on the news but not consumed with it.

The only positive about this whole fiasco is that it’s spring, and as long as we practice social distancing, we can still enjoy fresh air and nature. I do miss concerts, theatre, bustling streets and busy restaurants, but what can we do?

I do understand having a spouse is very helpful to me for maintaining sanity at this time. I hope those out there who are managing this by themselves find some connection through whatever means they can, including this thread.

[jazzy jeff]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I think the hitch is, we remain social creatures, and virtual socializing, while valuable, still goes only so far in filling the hole.

The grocery stores fill because they're about the only places we're allowed to go.

I'm not saying, however, that we should lift the restrictions.

At one time we use to use Shop-Rite Home Delivery. Am thinking about trying again, although not sure how it's going to work since they are probably going to be out of many items or brands I would choose. Curious to know if any here have given them a try in the past several weeks.

[jazzy jeff]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Agree. I'm not sure what the solution is, as we all obviously need food and supplies, but you're not going to catch my wife or me in a store in the near future. We just ordered some groceries the other day and got them delivered. No chance I'm rubbing shoulders with dozens of people, grabbing goods off the shelf that someone might have just handled a few minutes ago, and being within 3 feet of the check-out clerk to pay. They just found like 12 Wawa workers positive (in different stores) and thus shut down those facilities. I would be surprised if fewer than like 50% of workers out there aren't positive.

Ahh, where did you order from and how was it?

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by jazzy jeff

Ahh, where did you order from and how was it?

Shop Rite. Not bad, not great, but good enough. I'm lucky that my wife is Italian, so at any given time we have enough frozen food to feed a small army . We only got a few things delivered. I would encourage this group to check out nextdoor though if you're not already members. (If this is against the board laws, apologies, but at times like this we should place our neighbors' well-being over click competition). Besides, I think the two sites are different enough that they don't compete. At any rate, there are all sorts of local places delivering now. Check out that site, put in your neighborhood and you'll find dozens of places you can get groceries/food/supplies delivered.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by eliza61nyc

I saw this news report also. I have mixed feelings about it though. I mean if you ride your bike pass someone what's the probability. for the most part I've been sticking inside but yesterday I admit I took a walk around my block. green street was for the most part pretty empty, some folks sitting on their front porches and people walking dogs.

If you have a dog what are you supposed to do. gotta get the poor pooch outside.

Now the knuckleheads in the park, playing chess etc. stupidity has also been a disease for a long time.

Since we are "neighbors" this is what I am seeing too. Dogs have to "go" and be walked...no way around that.

I've gone for walks every other day but I have not been to Center City proper at all and that is completely contrary to what I would normally would be doing.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by jazzy jeff

I do not think anyone has said we can not go for a walk. Just not in a crowd, and that is easy in most of the areas here in town. I worry more about going into grocery stores.

Going out for walks and exercise is fine.

I can take advantage of the early grocery store opening for seniors that some stores are offering. I always shopped for food almost as soon as stores opened anyway. Generally there will be less people.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Shop Rite. Not bad, not great, but good enough. I'm lucky that my wife is Italian, so at any given time we have enough frozen food to feed a small army . We only got a few things delivered. I would encourage this group to check out nextdoor though if you're not already members. (If this is against the board laws, apologies, but at times like this we should place our neighbors' well-being over click competition). Besides, I think the two sites are different enough that they don't compete. At any rate, there are all sorts of local places delivering now. Check out that site, put in your neighborhood and you'll find dozens of places you can get groceries/food/supplies delivered.

Nextdoor is a sort of "walled garden" network of neighborhood-specific discussion boards. I know several city departments use it to disseminate information about services and activities. You have to have your physical location verified as being within the neighborhood in question before you're let in. (My neighborhood: Awbury Historic District.) But it should have info about who in your own neighborhood offers their own delivery services.

The main food- and grocery-delivery services I'm familiar with are:

• Peapod, which Giant uses
• Instacart, which has an arrangement with the Reading Terminal Market that anyone living within 15 miles of the market can use
• ShopRite from Home, proprietary to that cooperative (which includes The Fresh Grocer)
• Whole Foods Market gets to use its parent Amazon's hyperefficient delivery system. Amazon also runs its own online grocery, Amazon Fresh. They promise 2-hour delivery.

There's also an online grocer called FreshDirect that a neighbor of mine uses. I think their prices are a little higher than most supermarket chains, but they sell themselves as offering products on par with what Whole Foods sells.

Shipt, a subscription service, will shop for you at several different chains, including some like Walmart that offer their own delivery services.

There's another service called Postmates that works like Shipt.

And I hear that Aldi now delivers. This I might try, because the nearest Aldi stores to me are off my usual travel paths. I'm not yet ready to seal myself in that way - I like the actual experience of shopping for food and would rather not give that up if I don't have to. I understand that I'm taking a big risk by doing this, as I'm in one and maybe two of the high risk groups (I've four years to go until my 65th), but I do take the usual precautions when venturing out. (I might also try out Instacart at the RTM because that's a bus and subway trip from where I live. However, I could probably get my bf to ferry me to more distant places.)

This is probably only a small fraction of the delivery options for groceries out there.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I think the hitch is, we remain social creatures, and virtual socializing, while valuable, still goes only so far in filling the hole.

The grocery stores fill because they're about the only places we're allowed to go.

I'm not saying, however, that we should lift the restrictions.

Don't you know any introverts who are perfectly fine without being dedicated "social creatures"? Well, of course you do.
We're not crazy btw. Well, you know that too.

The restrictions are the only way to lessen the spread. There really is no choice.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Agree. I'm not sure what the solution is, as we all obviously need food and supplies, but you're not going to catch my wife or me in a store in the near future. We just ordered some groceries the other day and got them delivered. No chance I'm rubbing shoulders with dozens of people, grabbing goods off the shelf that someone might have just handled a few minutes ago, and being within 3 feet of the check-out clerk to pay. They just found like 12 Wawa workers positive (in different stores) and thus shut down those facilities. I would be surprised if fewer than like 50% of workers out there aren't positive.

Unless there is truly massive testing, and eventually antibody testing, we may never completely know who is positive and who actually had covid and recovered.

Some of things we are doing, or trying to do, are things people should have been doing for years anyway. It's like many are just learning or relearning how lots of diseases are transmitted.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

I got out of town before things got quite this serious. I'm in Upstate NY visiting family, but the weather here is miserable and I feel I'm overdoing my stay. Right now, regardless of where I am, my mindset is the only activity outside of a house I'm partaking in is going outside to exercise. But is the stay at home order going to become strict enough I can't even get outside in the Wissahickon or Valley Forge?

I have not been as far as that but I have been to Bryn Mawr a couple of times in the last two weeks. No problems getting there or coming back into the city.