I stopped in at a Fred Meyer (PNW chain) to pick up a few things on the way home from my sister’s place Sunday afternoon. Paper products and cleaning supplies had a lot of empty shelf space, but they were not totally out of TP. They were pretty low on some staples like eggs and milk. LOADS (numerous pallets filled in the display aisle places) of bottled water. Parking lot was less full than I expected. They had a Purel wipe dispenser by the shopping carts so you could wipe it down before use – it’s possible that it isn’t a new item and is just getting a lot more notice and use these days, it’s not a specific store I normally visit. Corona Beer was on sale. People were generally keeping reasonable distances apart.
One thing I noticed on the drive was that a lot of places were still open, contrary to expectations. Car dealerships. Espresso stands. Marijuana shops. I expected gas stations and grocery stores and restaurants (to-go only), but not an auto-parts store or oil-change place. Be interesting to know what percentage of business are claiming to be “critical infrastructure” and just being “really careful.”
Auto parts and car repair are clearly critical functions. Espresso and weed, no.
Here in California, our construction trades got added to the “essential services” because no one in government wants construction to lag behind. As an engineer, I’m providing the drawings and calcs so construction can carry on.
That makes sense. Meanwhile, the idiot mayor of Boston shut down all construction in the city. I guess he’s so dim he doesn’t understand that most construction workers are generally far enough away from others on the site.