Pandemic supply chain in your area

[jtr1962]

In some areas people are already being asked to work from home, if at all possible. I hope we don't go back to mandatory lockdowns ever again. California lost 1/3 of all businesses from the last round. We definitely can't afford to go another round.

Actually, we should have taken a cue from China, New Zealand, and Australia and went this route from day one. However, instead of blanket lockdowns, the key is far less disruptive targeted lockdowns only in places where testing reveals community transmission. Of course, for this to work, you need to have the numbers low enough so you can detect where there is community transmission. That may have required one or two blanket lockdowns of a few months when this first started. But after that we could have reopened faster, knowing that targeted lockdowns would quickly extinguish any covid "brush fires" before they became full-blown infernoes. The death rates of these countries compared to the US show the value of such policies.

 

[jtr1962]

A month or so back, I noticed they's become much more scarce. Many (falsely) thought the disease was on the decline, and when not required to wear them, they were ditched by many. That was likely a contributing factor to our being where we find ourselves today.

Edit: In restaurants eating/drinking, and especially crowded ones, I'm not sure anything will help

Same in NYC and we've generally been great about mask wearing until recently.

I don't know why we didn't have restaurants go back to delivery only when delta hit. And I'm scratching my head at Mayor Adams saying people should get back to their offices in Manhattan. Even if the pandemic were over, remote work is better for most workers and very popular. Anyone who can do their job effectively at home should, especially in this era where climate change is a concern.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Can someone tell me why we are allowing known COVID positive vaccinated nurses to work while firing healthy non vaccinated nurses in California? Seems completely backwards to me. I'd rather have the nurse that doesn't make me sick. If anything, they should take an all hands on deck approach and hire back any healthcare worker they can find to get through this year's surge. We're going to need them.

 

[jtr1962]

Can someone tell me why we are allowing known COVID positive vaccinated nurses to work while firing healthy non vaccinated nurses in California? Seems completely backwards to me. I'd rather have the nurse that doesn't make me sick. If anything, they should take an all hands on deck approach and hire back any healthcare worker they can find to get through this year's surge. We're going to need them.

I'll give you one reason right off, namely that the presence of unvaccinated staff would cause vaccinated staff to quit, probably in large numbers. If I had a job I couldn't do at home, and the company didn't have a mandatory vaccine policy, at least for those who work on site, I'd be gone in a heartbeat. Same thing if they didn't require masks, have plexiglas dividers, or take other precautions. No job is worth dying for. The presence of unvaccinated staff increases the risk for everyone, even if the vaccines aren't 100% effective.

Employers are doing a balancing act and making judgement calls. Maybe having a mandatory vaccine policy results in 5% being terminated, but without that policy perhaps 10% will quit.

I don't understand why they're allowing infected nurses to work, either. That flies in the face of everything other safety precaution. It's another thing will may well drive some staff to quit for their own safety. Any way you look at it, hospitals are going to be short staffed until the peak is past.

 

[scout24]

I am happy to see that the Health Commissioner for NYC is now recommending the use of N95 masks, instead of any old cloth mask. That is an indication that the supply of the better masks is getting better.
Last week I picked up a 20 pack of N95 masks at the Home Depot. There were perhaps 20 packs of them. Yesterday, my daughter wanted to get more for herself, and her two boys. There were none at a different HD, where they were supposed to be, ( the app said they were in stock) but she looked high up, and saw a case of them. She had to get an employee to get a ladder to get some for her. He didn't restock the shelf, but left the case way up high.

Her impression was it was being saved for those in the know. Employees, and their families.

Glad ahe found some, Poppy. Just as likely a reason for no re-stock, shoplifting. I needed some Romex for a project two weeks ago, and same situation. None on the shelf, but a bunch up high. Employee went up the ladder, handed me one roll, and I put it down and held my hands up for another figuring I would save her multiple trips up and down. She smiled, said thanks, and said anything they put down on the shelf would walk right out the front door. High demand I guess...

 

[bykfixer]

So I guess this is the new covid-19 thread?

 

[Poppy]

So I guess this is the new covid-19 thread?

No it is NOT.
If it gets too out of hand, I'll insist that Mr Ed delete disruptive posts.

Like I said before, I'd like this thread to stay pretty much on topic.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make this point once again.

 

[scout24]

Seems that most of the posters have been back and forth with some covid related content and supply chain related content. As always, staff has the options of trying to gently steer things back on topic if we veer way off for half a page or so, or deleting content if it gets out of hand. As this is the Cafe, there has always been more leeway as to topic drift vs. the general Forum. Given that the tenor of CPF seems to have changed in recent history, this seems to have been a well behaved thread given the subject matter and off topic drift. If you'd like Mr. Ed to stop by, perhaps send him a PM and he'll either clarify or take action he sees fit. 😊

 

[bykfixer]

No it is NOT.
If it gets too out of hand, I'll insist that Mr Ed delete disruptive posts.

Like I said before, I'd like this thread to stay pretty much on topic.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make this point once again.

So perhaps this thread below will help?

Omicron-where things stand lately

Ok, so let's try this again. To start out: opinions are welcome. Politics, religion, personal attacks are not. We're all adults and understand what those are. Ok? Here we go. How about a little humor to kick this one off?

www.candlepowerforums.com

^^ a place to discuss the virus and all of its details.

I had accidently started it in the intro section. Thanks to Mr Ed and his new format that was easily taken care of.

 

[bykfixer]

At the grocery store if you wanted spagetti noodles you had 2 choices, whole wheat or those Ramens.

Now yesterday evening they did not have my brand of turkey sausage links (again) but had plenty this morning. They did not have Pert Plus (again) but did this morning.

Thinking ahead, I found one bottle of store brand 'coughing, stuffy head, fever, so you ca rest' medicine. They had two but I did not want to be "that guy", so Mrs Fixer walks up with 2 bottles of Pert Plus and says "last 2, I guess I'm that guy" lol. But in her defense they had not had the stuff since around Halloween and who knows when they will again. Most other stuff they had plenty of and the price of cow meat has dropped down some.

We then ventured into a chain drug store to get a pill box for a friend of Mrs Fixer and I overheard what seemed to be a Food Lion driver and CVS driver conversating about their warehouses are not receiving some things hence the empty shelves. I had been figuring it was pure panic buying, yet those two seemed to correct some of that incorrect thinking.

Atheletes foot cream is MIA. I finally found some but it's been a while looking. I still had some but it's almost gone. It works for various things besides atheletes foot and I'll leave it there.

So overall there are still hits and misses but being cold and flu season that's not surprising. At least to me anyway.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

A friend of mine is closely affiliated with Home Depot. He says their shoplifting loss is enormous. He had numbers but I don't remember.

 

[knucklegary]

Nomo Ramen here as well. Bottled water gone.. TP in very short supply. Glad we stocked up throughout the year

Byk, man I can smell your socks from over here!

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

A friend of mine is closely affiliated with Home Depot. He says their shoplifting loss is enormous. He had numbers but I don't remember.

Looks like they're doing something about that theft. I'm not a fan of all their power tools locked up behind bars. When I was working doing electrical work, I'd have to buy tools on my time off between work and apprenticeship classes. Sometimes, I was sent to jobs 100 miles from home. Time was very precious. You could either get some much needed sleep or get something you needed for the job. For people who work for a living, if you can't grab it and go, you may go somewhere else. You might want to compare tools to choose the best one, but you can't do that with it locked up. However, with the recent smash and grabs, I understand they have to do this to try not to go out of business. Here's a video of their current theft prevention measures.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Looks like they're doing something about that theft. I'm not a fan of all their power tools locked up behind bars. When I was working doing electrical work, I'd have to buy tools on my time off between work and apprenticeship classes. Sometimes, I was sent to jobs 100 miles from home. Time was very precious. You could either get some much needed sleep or get something you needed for the job. For people who work for a living, if you can't grab it and go, you may go somewhere else. You might want to compare tools to choose the best one, but you can't do that with it locked up. However, with the recent smash and grabs, I understand they have to do this to try not to go out of business. Here's a video of their current theft prevention measures.

Interesting. The bluetooth product activation technology is a double edged sword. Once it's activated, what's to prevent a manufacturer from demanding an annual license fee from the user to keep it activated?

 

[jtr1962]

Interesting. The bluetooth product activation technology is a double edged sword. Once it's activated, what's to prevent a manufacturer from demanding an annual license fee from the user to keep it activated?

Not to mention it's another potential point of failure even if they don't do that. I won't buy products which are needlessly complicated.

The answer to the shoplifting issue is to go after the places that enable them to fence stolen merchandise. If they can't sell it, they won't steal it.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

For the Bluetooth technology, they actually could have gone farther. Milwaukee tools have the Bluetooth technology that allows you to disable the tool if it gets too far away from your smartphone. It also allows you to track the tool on the job site so you know where it is at all times and if anyone took it. If they activated this feature to stay on when someone steals it or hasn't purchased it yet, they could get a read on where someone's stolen stash is when they track several tools at one location. It's just a privacy issue. Do you really want to buy a tool that someone else can track you with? If they're able to make a simple tweak at checkout for who can track what, it might be a good way to put an end to the smash and grabs.

 

[dc38]

Not to mention it's another potential point of failure even if they don't do that. I won't buy products which are needlessly complicated.

The answer to the shoplifting issue is to go after the places that enable them to fence stolen merchandise. If they can't sell it, they won't steal it.

Anybody else share the sentiment that if someone feels that someone else's things are worth more than their own lives, perhaps it would be discourteous not to oblige their short-sightedness? Also, had an acquaintance from Cali tell me that thieves get away with anything less than $1k...is that true?

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

$950 or less is a misdemeanor so they usually aren't prosecuted. If they are, they're out the next day because of zero dollar bail. That's the problem. Criminals are let out immediately, and will go after whoever got them in trouble. That makes it unsafe for the cops and anyone who considers doing the right thing to get the criminals arrested. It's hard to stop crime when crime has the upper hand. People blame the cops, but it's like blaming someone for not getting a bucket filled with water when the bottom is cut off. You have to wonder how corrupt the people are that put these laws in place and if it's the criminals that are actually running the state. A lot needs to change to undue this mess and it starts with cleaning house and undoing those stupid laws. Otherwise things will only get worse.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I hope it doesn't happen, but I think we should prepare for another round of mandatory stay at home lockdowns to start to take place within the next week or two. Get enough groceries to get by for at least a month (nonperishable/ doesn't need cooled).

It's happening now. May be too late in some areas to stock up on food for a month.



The lockdowns are returning to some areas starting today. Areas around San Franscisco and Los Angeles are asking people to stay home except for essential travel. Large groups and activities are being banned.

 

[jtr1962]

The weird thing is this doesn't seem to be affecting the east coast. I went to the store yesterday. The shelves were pretty full. Even the meat section had a good selection. I wore an N95 mask with a surgical mask over it. It must have worked because I felt a little light headed for a while. If oxygen had a hard time getting in, the virus would have an even harder time. Store was mostly empty as is usual for that time (8 PM).

First time to the store in a month. I missed my last trip two weeks ago on account of severe back pain. Mostly better now but the day when it started it took me an hour to get out of bed.

Anyway, plenty of stuff in the house. If we do have a lockdown for a few weeks I'll be OK.