When it really happens: SHTF...

[Aragorn243]

Gil,

I don't have a good read on Philly despite being so close to them. When we switched from cable to Direct TV, we lost our Philly TV stations and we are far enough away from them that we can't get them on antenna either. Based on all the information I do have, Philly is not being hit particularly hard so your friends should be fine. There have been 6352 cases in Philly with 128 deaths. This is the most in the state but not surprising as it's the most densely populated area in the state. Hospitals are in good shape with 1476 normal beds available, 254 ICU beds and 1270 ventilators remain available. Philly has a population of 1.5 million so those affected only make up .4%. There are currently 253 patients on ventilators in Philly for Covid-19. 516 ventilators are being used for other reasons for comparison. The Feds have been saying for days that Philadelphia was a city of special concern. It is the sixth largest in the country. They beefed it up a good bit medically in preparation but it's looking like a surge isn't going to materialize. Temple University set up 200 beds in it's arena just for covid cases. They were also the first in the state to issue stay at home orders.

I have so much information on NYC because it is such a disaster and is in the news all the time. Philly is very quiet in comparison as is the rest of PA. The spread from NYC went hard into New Jersey and while our neighboring counties are harder hit than the rest of the state, they still remain very low in comparison.

I shop at Walmart and use the self checkouts. I have seen screens at Lowes which is a lumber yard and Giant had everything covered in plastic. Masks are still not required for employees at these places which is something I would like to see. In fact, I wish the Governor would mandate the wearing of masks if you enter any building other than your home. I'd estimate that even today only 40% are wearing them. If they did that, we could probably go back to almost normal.