Coronavirus Panic

When we arrived on March 1, we were a little concerned about Coronavirus. By yesterday, after listening to the President's rambling press conferences for a week, we and others are feeling very uneasy.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz closed schools, bars, restaurants, salons etc. early in the week. Most places of worship cancelled public events and made streamed services available. Archbishop Hebda of the St. Paul Minneapolis archdiocese issued a letter in which he explained the suspension of public liturgies.

In Florida, action seemed to take a little longer. As COVID-19 cases increased in Miami, the jitters became apparent here on the Gulf Coast. Restaurants began to offer curbside pick-up and delivery, but bars and restaurants weren't closed until yesterday. Beaches in Pinellas County closed at 11:59 p.m. yesterday, but I noticed a few beachwalkers this morning.

We haven't been inside a bar or restaurant for at least 10 days. As someone with a "compromised immune system", I am particularly aware of how easily I seem to come down with any kind of virus or infection -- so I began to "self isolate" earlier than most. I was ready to book a flight home at least five days ago! I didn't care about the "sunk costs" for our vacation rental (not cheap, no refunds).

In the end, we decided to leave a week earlier than our planned April 5 departure. After an uneasy night's "sleep", we changed that March 29 departure to Wednesday, March 25. Our Wisconsin neighbors are clearing out on Monday, about 10 days ahead of time. Delta promises some kind of credit for our cancelled flight, but that will take at least 7 days. We dropped $600 for 1st class tickets -- I really didn't like the idea of being squished into a standard seat, where I am always stuck in the middle, usually between two very large people (and I'm not exactly small myself).

The great thing about this is an empty swimming pool! My 7:00 a.m. swim has nearly always been solitary, but even our afternoon dip is quiet, with no more than one or two other swimmers. Yesterday, Bob and I had the entire pool to ourselves for nearly an hour.

These are different times.

Hoarders - Everywhere!

My first stop in St. Pete Beach is always the Dollar Store, where I pick up paper products and cleaning supplies, including splenty of disinfectant. This year, I couldn't find toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, or hand sanitizer for my purse and the car. Apparently people all over the world are hoarding stuff, including toilet paper.

Publix was short of lots of items too, but Norman's Liquors was well stocked. The Sunday farmers' market on Corey Boulevard is closed until April, at the earliest.

The situation became progressively worse as the weeks progressed. Now, at the end of Week 3, we're not even trying. I improvised with baby wipes soaked in Mr. Clean disinfectant spray, which seems to work reasonably well on most surfaces. I have liquid hand soap for every sink. The place has a vague, not unpleasant disinfectant smell.