Covid-19 Update

We're going up the hill today to fetch the kid home from school. There are at least 12 confirmed cases in Arkansas as of this morning, and who knows how many actual cases.

The kid is coming home because his roommate is employed at a low-wage job, and can't self-quarantine. Both of them are young, so probably not at risk; but they're both worried that the kid will get it from the roommate and then bring the virus home to us (Dr. Skull and I aren't exactly old, but).

Yesterday I went out to the grocery. Not as chaotic as a few days ago, but on the other hand, the shelves were almost stripped: no paper towels, no toilet paper, no paper napkins, no cleaning supplies. Almost no canned fruit. Almost no frozen vegetables. No baby food. No canned milk.

All of this is obviously panic buying -- what else, in a capitalist society? We can't do anything effective, so we buy crap.

I was after tomato sauce and cheese, so I could make enchiladas. Those were both still available. (Why aren't people buying cheese? I mean, at a time like this, don't people want cheesy goodness?)

Our public schools are staying open, at least so far; but all the universities have closed.

Crystal Bridges, the sole decent art museum in Arkansas, has shut down.

I'm not worried myself, not even a little bit, about the virus. I am a little concerned about what's going to happen over the next months. According to most sources I'm seeing, the pandemic doesn't peak here in the USA until July 2020. Can the economy survive five months of even moderate quarantining?

Meanwhile the weather in Arkansas continues cold and rainy. I miss my walks.