When it really happens: SHTF...

[CINDERS]

Our police force has stopped doing full blanket RBT's(Stopping every vehicle) and RBT's(Suspecting a drunk driver) they have allot of officers off with symptoms my nephew a Federal Detective is being ground to dust with overtime we are waiting for the boarders to be shut Qantas has stopped 90% overseas flights and 60% internal flights and will be grounding 150 aircraft, staff are being told to take paid leave, unpaid leave before the redundancies hit this may bankrupt some airlines.
Our tourism and hospitatlity are severely hampered they are now saying that over the next couple of months up to 1 million people could lose their jobs this could be worse than the 1930's recession with almost a total collapse of infrastructure not sure what the govt will empower whether they have the army for marshal law never a good mix army & civies.

We here at home have set at DEFCON 3.5 !

[usabaker]

Our tourism and hospitatlity are severely hampered they are now saying that over the next couple of months up to 1 million people could lose their jobs this could be worse than the 1930's recession

first the fires, then this.

---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------

I thought California had strict gun control??

Some of the worse Gun Control in the Nation. People are buying and waiting for the 10 days to get their firearms. The only limitation besides the 10-day "Cooling-Off period" and the Handgun Roster is only the purchase of one handgun in any 30-day period.

Oh and Background checks when you buy ammunition.

[Aragorn243]

Remains calm in central PA. I visited the bank today to get a little more cash out. If they close, which apparently they are at least preparing for, they will have the ATM's up and running and stocked but that doesn't do much if there's a huge line for it. Won't be a lot to buy soon anyway. My suppliers are still open so my remodeling business continues for now. Newest thing today was Musinex. My oldest daughter is following this pretty closely and my son in law knows someone that has it. Said it came on very fast. Musinex is good. Vicks vaporub, a vaporiser with Vicks droplets to put in it are recommendations to have on hand. My wife was able to snag what we didn't have before they were gone but said supplies were very low. After my errands this morning I drove to my current job site. Traffic was as bad as on a weekend. Not sure where everyone was off to. Grocery stores I passed did not have full parking lots by any means and little else is open. My client told me the only traffic on the main highway was truck traffic delivering goods.

[Flying10uk]

I wanted a loaf of bread tonight and so I called in at my local grocery store where I usually go and "I don't believe it", not a single loaf in sight, nor a roll or a savoury bun of any description. While there I thought that I had better carry out a bog roll audit and the stock level turned out to be zero, tissues too. I therefore visited the larger supermarket in town, thinking that there would be more stock, but no, same result, no bog rolls and no bread. According to one of the assistants, it would seem that dogs, not wanting to be outdone, are getting in on the act of panic-buying too, because apparently they had sold out of dog food as well today.

I was determined to buy something and while at the 2nd shop I went and had a look at their medium and large plastic food bags which I use for storing collectables etc in and I did need some more. The 2 sizes that I wanted, medium and large, were both on offer with a 25% discount which I though was very good. I therefore did a little "panic buying" of my own and purchased the entire stock, that had been put on the shelf, of medium and large food bags that was discounted @ 25% and didn't leave empty handed.

[Ovidio]

As long as goods are delivered, things should be ok.
I must admit that the very quick and fairly extreme reaction in the good old US of A makes me worry a bit.
There was a lot of time, at least two weeks, for getting ready and stock up a tad.
But from what I see, hear and get told from friends and customers around the world, it seems as if nobody really understood or cared about what was going on in Italy. Every other western country is, more or less, following the same pattern, without real improvement in the preparedness.
Even the flight of French people from Paris to the countryside is EXACTLY what happened here 10 days ago. How could Mr. Macron just say that in 36 hours he would close down everything, without stopping all transport companies. That is idiotic and criminal!
I thought it was our southern people, known to be very emotional, but this, and other situations coming up in Europe, is teaching me better.
Communication in times of crises is a science in itself. I got taught a bit of that at Military School, and am extremely surprised that international leaders do not know d*ick about it... It is not acceptable. Impossible!!!
So many things I’m learning...
An ancient Chinese (if I remember well) curse said: I wish you to live in interesting times...
Well, I actually like it. Obviously, I hope they won’t last too long...
Good night folks.

---------- Post added at 10:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

We here at home have set at DEFCON 3.5 !

Well Cinders, you are an optimist.
I went to DEFCON 3 already one week ago

[usabaker]

I must admit that the very quick and fairly extreme reaction in the good old US of A makes me worry a bit.

People in the USA overreact at what seems the drop of a dime nowadays. I half expected it but not to the extremity it is revealing itself. I think the problem is the sensationalizing of the virus in the US media. Another issue is that only a few of us are prepared for emergency no matter how much is told to people to be prepared, especially in earthquake-prone California.

[mr.e moose]

I have enough canned goods and preserves along with meat and seafood in the freezer to last a year.
Just bought a slip tank for one of our trucks because gas is cheap right now lowest I've seen in years.
Wife has a hoard of Tp and if I make it to May I will self isolate in my favorite lake.

[Ovidio]

I half expected that too, but the character of the people and the extreme social differences in the US, make me think that social unrest is much more likely than it is here.
Don’t consider me someone with prejudice. I love the USA, I know lots of people there. I played football (American football) for 25 years in Italy’s main league, winning two of our Superbowls, so I have a bit of knowledge about the US. Teammates, coaches, friends...
But I have always had the feeling that there is a sizeable part of the people there who might be extremely unpredictable in case of trouble...
The rush to buy guns does not surprise me at all. Also the rush toward malls and shopping centres.
It is happening everywhere there are few or no small shops left.
And that makes people more vulnerable. Vulnerable people need to be able to restrain or, if they can’t, they get aggressive.
And if the media keep heating up the mood...

[mrclark303]

I half expected that too, but the character of the people and the extreme social differences in the US, make me think that social unrest is much more likely than it is here.
Don’t consider me someone with prejudice. I love the USA, I know lots of people there. I played football (American football) for 25 years in Italy’s main league, winning two of our Superbowls, so I have a bit of knowledge about the US. Teammates, coaches, friends...
But I have always had the feeling that there is a sizeable part of the people there who might be extremely unpredictable in case of trouble...
The rush to buy guns does not surprise me at all. Also the rush toward malls and shopping centres.
It is happening everywhere there are few or no small shops left.
And that makes people more vulnerable. Vulnerable people need to be able to restrain or, if they can’t, they get aggressive.
And if the media keep heating up the mood...

The best of luck to all our members, stay safe and watch out for the vulnerable in your communities.

The sad thing here in the UK, is that the big stores have plenty of stock, but people's selfish and uncontrollable binge buying has seriously stressed the system.

Control should have been enforced, alas it wasn't...

So much for British self control!

[Flying10uk]

One would perhaps understand some of the "binge buying" if it was a pandemic of diarrhoea sweeping the world.