Donned my PPE and went for a walk last night. I usually go along 1st Avenue because we live near a nice view over the East River, but mister husband wanted to check out Times Square instead. And it sure was something.
Basically just buskers and cops. Pity the poor knock-off muppets and superheroes, I guess; it seems like a very high-risk occupation at the moment. No pity for the people who tried to foist CDs on me, and then made fun of me for saying “no thanks”, and then pretended to attack me when I walked around them at a distance, and then screamed “corona!” at me over and over as I passed. The only reason I don’t hope they get sick is that they apparently like to scream at people in public places.
About half of the pedestrians here are good at staying away from each other. Dodging the rest is an interesting game. A surprising number of food carts are still around. I don’t know–it’s obviously sunk in for most residents, but (see above) many seem to be missing the point!
Anyway, all the more reason to stay inside and play Animal Crossing. Open thread!
zhena gogolia
Very scary.
PenAndKey
That’s surreal. How are you finding Animal Crossing? My wife just got laid off “for the next few weeks” (really indefinitely, but her boss is an idiot) so she and P&K Junior are at home and she was a huge fan of the original. I’m considering surprising them with a switch and a copy on my way home from my “critical infrastructure” job today. Worth it?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I find myself backing away from people who keep trying to get closer in order to talk to me. What is wrong with them?
Major Major Major Major
@PenAndKey: Eek! Hang in there.
I haven’t had a chance to fire it up yet, since it was already midnight when my switch unlocked it. But I’m sure I’ll love it–I’ve never played one before, but I am a homosexual and that seems to be highly predictive.
MattF
I grew up with the sleazy, urban sex-ed Times Square— so the New and Improved version seems unreal. My dad used to be a GP in that neighborhood, and treated some unusual patients when the circus came to town. But that was then…
Ruckus
Sounds about the same as here in LA.
Some act terrified and and some act like they are never going to die. But the few people I see on my walks are being nicer than normal. Much less traffic and I’m a half mile from one of the Metrolink trains and it’s normally 6 double decked cars, packed with commuters. I’ve taken it to and from the VA and it’s been packed at rush hr with the 3 story parking structure full or almost full every week day. It’s empty, traffic is far far less and after the gov’s full shutdown last night I expect to have even less today and going forward.
CaseyL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s probably unconscious, and a very hard habit to break. (I have to continually remind myself to step back and stay back when around other humans.) (Not that that’s happening very often these days.)
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
What’s wrong with them?
I’d say roughly, no respect for science. They also may be fatalists. Or they may believe that the media lies to them. I’ll never understand where they got that idea.////////
Major Major Major Major
@Ruckus: You couldn’t pay me enough to enter a subway station right now.
dr. bloor
Coulda rolled a bowling ball down the Henry Hudson at “rush” hour this morning and not hit anything between Ft. Tryon and the GW bridge. Surreal.
Gin & Tonic
My son says downtown Kyiv is largely deserted, but there hasn’t been much panic buying, and all food seems to be generally available. He was panicked for a bit after the DoS advisory yesterday, but just got explicit confirmation he can stay, so that’s a big relief. The government isn’t doing routine work for another several weeks, though, so he doesn’t have much to do right now.
danielx
Speaking of PPE, wondering if big box stores like Home Depot are still carrying Tyvek suits (for painters).
OGLiberal
When I used to go into the office regularly (5+ years ago) I walked right through there most mornings and afternoons. The small size of the crowd is actually impressive. Was watching a live cam a night or so ago that’s set up near the tkts booths and there were very few people – this was somewhere between 6-7pm.
That said, outside of retail, that’s a part of the city where most people have jobs where they can work from home and with travel restrictions, etc, you aren’t going to have many tourists.
Peale
@Ruckus: I wish they’d explain whether non symptomatic carriers can spread this by talking. If they’re not touching and not coughing and sneezing can it be spread just by standing near someone who is talking. Is the letter P a danger to us all?
prostratedragon
Just returned from fill-in shopping at the Roosevelt&Wabash Jewel. Going early looks a good idea. Limits on eggs (I got one of the last 4 or so dozens), milk, hand soap (just looking, here; have enough that with a limit on I shouldn’t be stocking up) among other things. Canned goods very low, except that the tuna on hand might hold out till closing time. No red potatoes (waaah!); had to settle for russets. Bananas available only as 30-day futures, so I passed, as did many others. But got some nice grapes and grape tomatoes, so I’ll have fresh snacks for a few days.
Waited for my ride home on a bench in the store vestibule. There are two that face each other, which often makes me feel like I’m in a meeting house. A man, Asian as it happens, sat on the other bench, about my senior age, fairly sharp-looking, with a walker. When I sat down I nodded a greeting, then noticed he was crying, quietly but openly. After a moment he composed himself but drooped a bit; there’s nothing for it the end. My ride came quickly so I left, hoping he could also go home soon.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Not familiar with that, but I’ve been playing a lot of Plague Inc on my phone, and asking myself if there’s something wrong with me.
In fact, I downloaded it when we first started hearing the news out of Wuhan. I thought “I used to play a fun Flash-based plague game on the laptop, I wonder if there’s one on the phone App store?”
I also got a lot of good suggestions for humorous end-of-the-world movies from you folks, and I intend to be go through them.
So again, is there something wrong with me?
In the category of silly horror, but not exactly end of the world, I mentioned an Irish movie that I’d seen on an Aer Lingus flight, where the only way to save your life was to get drunk at the pub. I tracked that down, it’s called Grabbers.
I think laughing is going to be how I get through this. But I am also seriously looking for ways to help people and businesses out and welcome all suggestions. I think more than any other recent event, this is causing us as a nation (at least the part of the nation that is not Republican leadership) to be thinking about each other.
From a safe distance.
Major Major Major Major
@danielx: My doctor told me Monday that they’ve started buying masks and tyvek from the hardware store so they have PPE for their testing office.
Gin & Tonic
@OGLiberal: My daughter worked in the Viacom building for several years, and was constantly annoyed at the tourists who’d come up the stairs from the subway and stop dead.
Now she’s nominally in the Flatiron area, but has an eminently WFH type of job, so she hasn’t been going in.
raven
We’ve got 2, 20 something girls across the street where the tweekers were last year. They are nice kids, we even know their parents, but yesterday afternoon, damn! The laid out on their lawn on blankets and partied in tiny bikini’s then a boy friend showed up and he ended up on top of of with her legs wrapped around him and the other one shooting video of it! Now I’m married but I’m not dead yet, that shit was pretty distracting!
joel hanes
It was sunny here in Silicon Valley yesterday instead of raining, so I took a walk in my suburban neighborhood. Many other people out doing the same, keeping well separated. People walking in the street, next to the parked cars, to pass someone on the sidewalk while separated.
The quiet is surreal. In normal circumstances, Santa Clara endures a continual roar of motor traffic and jetliner takeoffs, 24/7, that sometimes subsides a bit but is never absent. But now we can hear the symphony of the birds, and the rush of the wind, for the first time in years. The air was sparkling, too, washed clean by the previous day’s rain and almost uncontaminated by exhaust.
Reminds me of being in Germany in 1973, during the oil shock. The German government, at least in Bavaria, banned driving on Sundays for all but emergency vehicles. The populace responded by getting out en masse, and walking the boulevards and parks, enjoying the splendid peace and quiet.
The church bells were glorious — from the windows of my Furth barracks, we could hear every church within a couple miles, and there were many, and many of them had at least a four-bell carrillion.
ETA: that quiet was, until 1920 or so, the common heritage of humankind, an everyday treasure, largely unvalued.
scav
@prostratedragon: Give russets a chance — they’re good, not at the things that waxy potatoes are good at, but waxy potatoes can’t what manage what russets can. If nothing else, rediscover some classics: scallop the things.
Chyron HR
…Can somebody explain what “PPE” is since it’s presumably not “Property, Plant & Equipment” in this context?
Ohio Mom
The only reasons I can think of to go to Times Square is to walk over the sound installation (it’s a site-specific sculpture that makes noise under your feet), and to go to the Muji store (sort of a Japanese version of IKEA).
In the ecosystem of NYC, maybe TS serves a purpose in that it typically keeps a good number of tourists corralled away from New Yorkers trying to get through their normal days.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@MattF: One time I rode the bus with my little girl up to Port Authority. I knew we were going to have to walk a couple of blocks from PA to our subway, right through the thick of it. I was steeling myself to walk as fast as possible past the drugs and the porn and the hookers to get to where we were going.
We got off the bus and the bus terminal was about as scary and disgusting as I remembered it. Then we walked outside and my jaw just dropped. It was literally Disneyland. I was looking at a wax museum. I saw tourists. I saw “The Lion King” on a marquee. I felt like Jimmy Stewart seeing Pottersville in “Wonderful Life”, the change (albeit not exactly the same change) was that unexpected and sudden. I don’t think it had been more than a couple years, maybe less, since I was last there.
joel hanes
@Chyron HR:
I’ve been reading it as “personal protective equipment”
Ohio Mom
PPE is personal protective equipment, the stuff medical personnel don to keep themselves from getting infected.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Chyron HR: I’m guessing “Personal Protective Equipment” from the context. I see others more knowledgeable got there already.
Major Major Major Major
@Chyron HR: Personal protective equipment.
@Ohio Mom: We usually avoid it like the plague, of course, but wanted to see it empty!
Bex
From HelenandMargaret: COVID19 Qurantini
1 part vermouth
19 parts gin
Garnish with a vitamin C tablet
Serve chilled with hand sanitizer
It’s strong enough to make you think Obama is still president and will knock you on your ass from six feet away.
Peale
@raven: the things that were happening all these years behind my back when I’ve been going to the office.,,
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Yep. All crowding and shoving and pushing and complaining about how rude these New Yorkers are.
Cacti
Is anyone else not surprised that it looks like DiFi got a piece of the action in the great Coronavirus US Senate stock dump?
Kent
My daughter’s birthday is today. I bought her the Animal Crossing special edition switch which I found at a local store last Friday. The actual game is in route via Amazon but I think you can just download games once you have the console. They have the consoles at Costco. At least here in the Northwest. So you can buy the Switch at Costco and then download games.
Major Major Major Major
Cuomo has issued an EO ordering workers at all non-essential businesses in NY state to stay home.
@Kent: We just downloaded it.
J R in WV
@Chyron HR:
Personal protective equipment – impermeable gown, face mask, eye shield, cap, etc. Various levels depending upon task and level of infectious danger. Also at hardware stores for various construction and manufacturing tasks, sanding, painting, pesticide application,etc. Somewhat interchangeable.
danielx
horndogs gonna horndog.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Grocery was packed at 7 am when it opened, and shoppers were snagging chicken, beef, pork products, bread, eggs, cheese and pasta as soon as it was coming out of cartons. Those shelves are probably mostly bare now.
I heard yesterday from someone who went to a big pet chain (can’t remember if it was PetSmart or Feeder’s Supply), but they said cat/dog food and cat litter had been picked clean.
PenAndKey
@Major Major Major Major: I may be (no, scratch that, I am) biased on this topic, but I strongly feel that any Governor that orders workers in the state to not work should also, as part of that very same order, remove any wait times, classes or work search restrictions in the state’s unemployment program. This situation fits the “loss of work through no fault of your own” category to a T. And, to the extent possible, they should also put a freeze on any debt payments in the state. If they want workers to “pause” they should be doing everything in their power to make the whole system do so as well.
I never really considered any form of UBI program as a political possibility here in the US, but this may very well influence that calculus.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
For those of us who tend toward being extroverts, this is a difficult time emotionally, and the people you’re dealing with are having trouble adjusting to the current, fucked up state of normal.
J R in WV
@Cacti:
A non-factual allegation according to complete reporting, as opposed to Faux News. Shame on you, back into the Pie Safe~!!!~
Central Planning
Last night, one of my friends was telling me about his daughter, a nurse at one of the hospitals in Erie County (home of Buffalo, NY).
Her hospital has NO COVID-19 tests. Zero. Zilch. Nada. People who come in can only get diagnostic tests to eliminate possibilities of sicknesses, so they are doing flu, strep, pneumonia, etc. tests instead. What a huge waste of time, resources, and money.
I can imagine the shock some people are going to get from their insurance companies for all that testing. Yikes.
Sloane Ranger
@Chyron HR: Personal Protective Equipment
See almost everyone got in ahead of me.
WereBear
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
You know, I’m actually kind of glad? Because animal twitter has been pushing back against an apparent panic where people are thinking their pets will give them the virus? We keep repeating the WHO advice and I added some pertinent posts.
We’re an international circle, so I’m not sure where this is happening. But we want to amplify that message, anyway.
Chyron HR
@Cacti:
Oh, so you hate both the moderate senator Feinstein AND the far left senator Warren? Gosh, the picture is starting to come into focus now.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I see what you did there.
satby
Nice video poem showing downtown Chicago over the last couple of days here.
Also, South Bend is now under a “essential travel only” order, which will probably become shelter in place soon enough. On that website showing atypical fever outbreaks there’s a huge one in central Michigan, just over the border from South Bend. Plus another one in central Indy. Went out to the store for the first time yesterday and feel like my personal clock in watching for symptoms needs to be reset every time. Fortunately, won’t need to go anywhere but drop offs at the post office for at least a week.
Cacti
@J R in WV: Right. Just happy coincidence. Like all of her Iraq war profiteering. ;-) ;-)
OGLiberal
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, why not take the extra few steps and then look around trying to figure out where you are and where to go?
I’ve been working from home almost exclusively for the last 6-years so this is no change for me. My company didn’t just give the option – within a three-day period we went from “everybody still comes to the office” to “nobody comes to the office unless it’s critical and you get explicit permission”. Interestingly, our Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Taiwan office are back to optional WFH 1-2 days per week. US and EMEA offices are basically on complete lock-down.
I have a feeling that some of my co-workers are actually annoyed that they can’t go to the office. Without all the commute time, idle stop-by chit-chat, etc, I’ve been much more productive as a WFH person. Senior managers don’t get it, though – they think that because they need to be there for “face time”, everybody does.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@prostratedragon:
I sympathize with him. I had one of those moments last night, as I contemplated the financial wreckage this will entail for me – and I don’t miss payments.
A friend of mine was suggesting I buy 500-1000 rounds of ammunition for my rifles and pistol, and I responded with “If I need that much, I don’t want to survive it”. What I didn’t say aloud was “I’m deliberately not buying pistol ammo because I don’t want that choice to be within my easy reach”.
This is truly depressing.
CaseyL
@joel hanes: There is a tiny part of my mind hoping we’ll come out of this better than we went in. Reclaiming The Quiet is one of the things I hope we get.
Major Major Major Major
@WereBear: I picked up an extra thingie of cat litter before the world completely melted down. Sad to hear I should have picked up two… but we always have extra cat food at least.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Major Major Major Major: Wolf in PA did much the same thing.
I saw Cuomo talking to Rachel about how neighboring states needed to coordinate their response to avoid people just jumping across state lines to avoid shutdowns. So I wouldn’t be surprised if NY, PA and NJ are coordinating.
But industry is pushing back against our order, they say the current list of businesses is going to hurt the supply chain in some areas critical to virus response.
Major Major Major Major
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: NY, PA, and NJ are indeed attempting to coordinate their responses for exactly this reason. Don’t know if this particular action is included, but if it just happened just now then I’d say it is!
J R in WV
Regarding Times Square in NYC, I always preferred the old version, slightly urban, somewhat risque, a little gritty, very downtown. The Disney version is still interesting in its strange way, but not for very long.
Last visit to the Big Apple we went to see a Broadway show on Saturday night, and when we came out all the taxicabs were long gone, so we did the rickshaw, peddled by a guy from Persia and a Kazac sidekick, and the light show was fascinating. The rides were expensive but also fascinating… they had a ton of blinky LEDs and blankets for the passengers. Will try to find photos. The young men were aggressive bikers, but careful of the traffic. Big fun, contradicting my opening paragraph, I guess.
Tourist crowds not so much fun!
Ohio Mom
Majorx4: Yes, an empty TS is something of a natural wonder. Glad I got to see your photo.
The emptiness makes the costumed characters look even more pathetic than usual. They make it a very melancholy scene.
I live on a suburban cul-de-sac. With a few exceptions — the morning and afternoon school bus pick-ups and drop-offs, the dads mowing lawns on summer weekends, or raking leaves in the fall — it almost always looks as deserted here as if a neutron bomb went off.
gvg
@Cacti: From her twitter
I think the dates were too early anyway, and the name of the company didn’t seem to suggest any reason to be suspicious. More info may come out and I’ll change my mind if appropriate, but right now I don’t think it’s a problem.
gvg
@gvg: Oh and they lost money. They sold when the company had been loosing value for awhile and it’s actually gone up a little since, so definitely not the kind of issue the Republicans are accused of.
OGLiberal
@Major Major Major Major: Wolf, in PA, seemed to be ahead of the other states with school closings and business lock-downs. Not by much, just a few days. I think CT is in the multi-state coordination effort as well.
The first death in PA – and maybe the only one, so far – was a member of that family from NJ where four members, including him, (mom and three adult kids) died from the virus. I think 3-4 are still sick. They had a recent large family gathering. I think the first person related to that who was diagnosed was a family friend. Sad.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chyron HR: Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
danielx
From what I can tell, number of cases is US is (roughly) doubling every 48 hours. Am I correct or off the mark?
Sloane Ranger
Almost everything I am involved in has been cancelled for the duration so have time on my hands. My Social History and Creative Writing Groups are continuing in the virtual world and the Director of my AmDram Group has asked us to continue to learn our lines and she’ll organise a rehearsal through Zoom or WhatsApp in a couple of weeks. Not much can be done to keep our Strollers or Sunday Lunch Groups going, especially as their leaders are both techphobic.
Went shopping yesterday. There was plenty of fresh produce available, more than usual, actually – looks like people aren’t buying it at the moment. The tinned and frozen food areas were completely stripped, apart from some luxury items and even those looked like they’d been a run on them. No toilet (or any other paper) items The thing that surprised me, though, was the complete absence of tomato ketchup, which I hadn’t actually considered to be a staple food item. I eventually found some after visiting 2 more shops. Not my preferred brand but any port in a storm.
We’ve had 16 confirmed cases here in the wilds of Northamptonshire and at least 1 death. The pubs are open but patronage is noticeably lighter than usual. Weatherspoons have their doors open with a note to the effect they’ve done this to allow fresh air to circulate, not sure what they think this achieves. Their CEO was on the radio today trying to justify his decision. Of course he’s a Brexit supporting idiot so selfishness and greed are his defining characteristics.
The Government has announced that schools in England will close w.e.f this afternoon. Scotland made this decision some time ago. Also, the London Underground is now partially closed and the Train Companies are reducing their services. The intention is that they are for key workers only.
Am passing the time with two online courses, one from the Open University and the other from Future Learn. Also writing a Father Brown fanfiction story.
Stay safe out there everyone.
Major Major Major Major
@danielx: almost certainly an artifact of increased testing.
Yutsano
@scav: Hasselback potatoes. Russets are built for those.
NotMax
In case no one has pointed it out, for any curious, that’s a statue of George M. Cohan in the picture.
Madeleine
@OGLiberal: The states that are coordinating are CT, NJ, NY, and PA. PA joined the other three yesterday IIRC.
Weds I passed through Grand Central on my way to a doctor’s appt. It was almost deserted, I was sometimes disoriented. I took another route on the way home.