4 ms·

I take the dimmer view: this is not even a real emergency, and we're not doing very well. I'm not down-playing the seriousness of the pandemic, by "real" I mea

I take the dimmer view: this is not even a real emergency, and we're not doing very well. I'm not down-playing the seriousness of the pandemic, by "real" I mean it's not a dirty nuke, a large-scale bio-chemical act of terrorism, a virus like ebola where death is faster and more graphic, geographical disaster of continental proportion, or an alien invasion (could happen - we think about it, write about it, make lots of movies). The guidance had been generally: stay home for two weeks. There's not a disruption in the manufacturing of toilet paper, 90% of which is made in the US. Yet we have panic buying of everything, markets down in historic marker, everybody acts like they can't make the next payment (not sure if true, everybody acts like it though). We are so under-prepared for anything really serious.

mrlala 7y ago
>panic buying of everything It's not panic buying when you are basically told to stay in your home for weeks on end. You say two weeks- but in Washington here our schools are closed for SIX WEEKS. People want to be prepared. I have kids, they eat like adults. Do you realize how big of food shopping trips people normally do every 1-2 weeks anyway with full families? And we simply don't know if production is going to slow down, how fast stores with be able to resupply various items. Might be no big deal or might be a problem. So I think you really confuse panic buying with being prepared.. having to go to the store every few days because you don't stock up pretty much defeats the purpose of what we are doing. >markets down in historic marker And why should it not be? The markets were already pushing themselves to the limits.. you add a simple normal reversal on top of this mess and you get exactly what we are seeing. Plus, there is no modern equivalent for the economic impact this will have. It's going to spiral and seep into every aspect of the economy. Why shouldn't the market plummet? The uncertainty is almost unfathomable. >everybody acts like they can't make the next payment Well.. you have tons of people who simply cannot work right now. Enough people in the country/world live essentially paycheck to paycheck anyway- now suddenly we take away potentially weeks/months of income? What do you expect? >We are so under-prepared for anything really serious. Yes and no. This situation just shows how utterly fragile all parts of the economy depend on each other, how much supply chains are linked, and how much we take it for granted that everything is always working as usual.
- true_religion 7y ago
  I am curious if other people are shifting their buying habits. For my family, we have been buying more staple goods that keep for a long period of time like rice and beans. Typically, we don’t eat either of those, but that’s the only thing that will keep you fed if grocers are empty for a month. I think this shift of buying could be called preparedness, but in another way it’s a panic because it’s a serious change in behavior.
  - jmalicki 7y ago
    I have been buying fewer Staples and more perishables - because no staples are left on store shelves, and meat and produce are the only food left to buy.
true_religion 7y ago
It’s funny when you mention serious, “real” emergencies then go on to list occurrences that have never happened in history. A nuclear attack without any warning would be unprecedented. Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared. A deadlier Ebola by the way would be less serious than actual Ebola. Ebola is already too deadly to make use of its infectiousness. In my view, the most deadly virus would be a variant of coronavirus that will regularly send healthy young adults into the ICU, and have a longer period of being asymptomatic.
- devchix 7y ago
  I don't think my point is that we're not prepared for an alien invasion - obviously a ridiculous example. Someone was saying this experience is comforting, someone else said that's a great perspective. I on the other hand am distressed. This is not a really serious event, and our irrational reactions to it show we are terribly unprepared for a more serious event, any event with more death and trauma immediately visible to more people. > Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared. Yes. We have runs on toilet paper and lunch meats now. What then, when people are preparing for a nuclear strike.
saturday14 7y ago
Yet we have panic buying of everything Initially, I got irritated with it too. But there seems to be no hurry from the govt in creating a vaccine, testing kits aren't widely available. When they do become available, it will most likely not be free of charge. There is no clear, coherent messaging from the govt. No clear instructions other than the basic "stay home, don't shake hands". The president is trying to buy the vaccine only for his countrymen from Germany... How hard can it be to release accurate numbers, have consistent/clear messaging on the status, on what to do and what not to do, set up testing centers for free etc? If this is the level of response for this, what can we expect in the case of much severe scenarios like the one you describe? People are panic buying because they don't know what else to do.
voisin 7y ago
Did anyone really think two weeks would be sufficient? I don’t know anyone that did, and I suspect this is what led to what you call “panic buying” which I call “rational preparation for a long sequestration”

mrlala 7y ago

>panic buying of everything It's not panic buying when you are basically told to stay in your home for weeks on end. You say two weeks- but in Washington here our schools are closed for SIX WEEKS. People want to be prepared. I have kids, they eat like adults. Do you realize how big of food shopping trips people normally do every 1-2 weeks anyway with full families? And we simply don't know if production is going to slow down, how fast stores with be able to resupply various items. Might be no big deal or might be a problem. So I think you really confuse panic buying with being prepared.. having to go to the store every few days because you don't stock up pretty much defeats the purpose of what we are doing. >markets down in historic marker And why should it not be? The markets were already pushing themselves to the limits.. you add a simple normal reversal on top of this mess and you get exactly what we are seeing. Plus, there is no modern equivalent for the economic impact this will have. It's going to spiral and seep into every aspect of the economy. Why shouldn't the market plummet? The uncertainty is almost unfathomable. >everybody acts like they can't make the next payment Well.. you have tons of people who simply cannot work right now. Enough people in the country/world live essentially paycheck to paycheck anyway- now suddenly we take away potentially weeks/months of income? What do you expect? >We are so under-prepared for anything really serious. Yes and no. This situation just shows how utterly fragile all parts of the economy depend on each other, how much supply chains are linked, and how much we take it for granted that everything is always working as usual.

true_religion 7y ago
I am curious if other people are shifting their buying habits. For my family, we have been buying more staple goods that keep for a long period of time like rice and beans. Typically, we don’t eat either of those, but that’s the only thing that will keep you fed if grocers are empty for a month. I think this shift of buying could be called preparedness, but in another way it’s a panic because it’s a serious change in behavior.
- jmalicki 7y ago
  I have been buying fewer Staples and more perishables - because no staples are left on store shelves, and meat and produce are the only food left to buy.

true_religion 7y ago

It’s funny when you mention serious, “real” emergencies then go on to list occurrences that have never happened in history. A nuclear attack without any warning would be unprecedented. Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared. A deadlier Ebola by the way would be less serious than actual Ebola. Ebola is already too deadly to make use of its infectiousness. In my view, the most deadly virus would be a variant of coronavirus that will regularly send healthy young adults into the ICU, and have a longer period of being asymptomatic.

devchix 7y ago
I don't think my point is that we're not prepared for an alien invasion - obviously a ridiculous example. Someone was saying this experience is comforting, someone else said that's a great perspective. I on the other hand am distressed. This is not a really serious event, and our irrational reactions to it show we are terribly unprepared for a more serious event, any event with more death and trauma immediately visible to more people. > Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared. Yes. We have runs on toilet paper and lunch meats now. What then, when people are preparing for a nuclear strike.

saturday14 7y ago

Yet we have panic buying of everything Initially, I got irritated with it too. But there seems to be no hurry from the govt in creating a vaccine, testing kits aren't widely available. When they do become available, it will most likely not be free of charge. There is no clear, coherent messaging from the govt. No clear instructions other than the basic "stay home, don't shake hands". The president is trying to buy the vaccine only for his countrymen from Germany... How hard can it be to release accurate numbers, have consistent/clear messaging on the status, on what to do and what not to do, set up testing centers for free etc? If this is the level of response for this, what can we expect in the case of much severe scenarios like the one you describe? People are panic buying because they don't know what else to do.

voisin 7y ago

Did anyone really think two weeks would be sufficient? I don’t know anyone that did, and I suspect this is what led to what you call “panic buying” which I call “rational preparation for a long sequestration”