This was a week of rapid changes nationally, personally, and professionally. A trip to several stores to purchase disinfectant wipes or sprays was completely fruitless. I hadn’t thought about additional paper towels or toilet paper until my daughter told me she couldn’t find any. My husband called me at work to say that there was a line inside COSTCO to purchase them and that by the time he got back there, they were sold out. And now public gatherings are being cancelled left and right. Many schools, including my own, have gone to online instruction. In addition, my University cancelled all conference travel, including a conference I was scheduled to attend this week. I wasn’t planning to attend anyway to limit my exposure. A cousin called to ask me about the family reunion I’ve been planning for this summer. My response was to extend the registration deadline because I don’t have a crystal ball.
And that’s kind of the problem. We simply don’t know where the end is. The only thing we do know is that the virus spreads easily among people and that it can be deadly for the elderly and people with underlying health conditions. My husband and I fit both categories and so we are extra careful. Social distancing is essential to slow the progression of the virus. I appreciate that another daughter who usually stays with us when she is working in California decided that she might not do that for a while given that her exposure to others is greater than ours. She isn’t afraid of getting sick, but she fears passing the virus to us. I’m happy to have raised a wise and considerate woman.
But really, this is precisely why schools are suspending operations or going online. It’s why college and professional sports have suspended or postponed events. It’s why theaters have gone dark and conferences have been cancelled. We all want to protect the vulnerable people in our lives. I heard someone jokingly call this disease the “Boomer Doomer”. I made a rather cynical remark to my husband that this is one way to cut the cost of Social Security and Medicare. He grimaced. But it is undeniable that there is a fiscal impact associated with this virus outbreak.
I think about the all the losses to businesses that provide services to sports fans, conference goers, work sites, and tourists. Just this week, I personally cancelled my hotel and travel. None of the restaurants I would have patronized for three meals a day over the course of five days will get my business. My daughter cancelled her flight to New York as all the theaters there went dark and her clients in numerous shows ceased to work. Last night, I picked up Chinese food from the local restaurant we frequent and my husband admonished me for it. We ceased eating out, but he doesn’t even want take-out. Will local businesses survive if we all adopt this behavior? I think of all the businesses that went under during the 2008 financial crisis and I get worried. Many businesses we patronized in our small community never returned.
I don’t have an answer. I just know that priority number one is to physically survive. Second to that is financial survival. I haven’t had the stomach to look at my stock market investments. I will continue to invest because I’m in it for the long run and its possible to view this as stocks being on sale. But it’s not easy. We may well be headed for a recession if the government financial package isn’t smart and adequate enough to assist people whose livelihood is adversely affected by the loss of work.
My immediate plan is to find toilet paper, disinfectant, and canned goods. I’ll only purchase enough for my husband and me. I won’t be a hoarder, recognizing that my fellow human beings are in the same situation and will also need these items should we become house-bound. But what we found in the four stores we visited Saturday was astounding.
First, we arrived at COSTCO 30-minutes before it opened and found the line to enter the store was wrapped around the building and extended far into the parking lot. We left. The grocery stores had many bare shelves with a glaring absence of essentials like milk, bread, and canned goods. We were shocked. I found and bought two cans of disinfectant at Home Depot and purchased two of the three disinfectant wipes that had just been restocked in Target by paying for one of them in a separate line from my husband. We were unsuccessful in purchasing toilet paper anywhere and opted for napkins and facial tissue instead. Thankfully, we already have about 20 rolls in stock.
However, without a crystal ball, I’m not entirely confident that this is enough. I’m just hopeful that we can curtail the spread of this virus and eventually get back to life as we’ve come to appreciate it.