COVID-19 Report

Day 4,502, 08:35 • Published in USA USA • by svs1109

With covid-19 in the headlines I will do what I can to get news out from my area. This is a real life, 1st person account of my experiences:

Location: Monterey-San Benito County, California, USA

03/17/20:

Yesterday the county that I work in (Monterey) and live in (San Benito) released "shelter-in-place" orders. No "non-essential" activities are allowed. Not quite sure how they are going to enforce this yet. I personally observed a 100 person deep line at the local Coscto @ 7:00am. Costco opens @ 9:00am. I heard from a co-worker that at my local Safeway grocery store there were two lines of 50+ people at both entrances of the store. My job is secure for now as I am in construction and we have been deemed as "essential" due to a large number of projects in low income housing. My wife's job is less secure. She is in vehicle rentals and they are still deemed "essential". Starting today her hours were basically cut to part time for an unknown amount of time. I am worried she will be laid off, but we have been saving and preparing well in advance for the last decade so for now I feel okay. My mother-in-law arrived yesterday via bus from Los Angeles. She said the bus station in downtown Los Angeles was pretty empty. The bus up was about 3/4 full. I went to a Lucky's supermarket yesterday for a few items yesterday and to observe. I was shocked. There were no eggs, milk, bleach, peanut butter, flour, toilet paper, rice, beans, canned goods, pasta, bread, or chicken. The meat department was 90% empty. Produce was about 20% empty but we live in a very agricultural area. We went to a local supermarket for milk and eggs but they were out as well. I heard from my sister in the Sacramento area that stores are stocked better than here. That doesn't surprise me as that is the state capitol.

I am going to keep my opinions to myself on what I think is going to happen because I honestly am not sure and don't want to spread fear in our nation. I am however going to continue to report on my local experiences. Feel free to comment below with your area and experiences there.

Thanks,
svs1109