COVID-19 Crisis Diary
I have a modest room refrigerator/freezer (my regular full-sized kitchen unit broke down, and my apartment management hasn't replaced it), so I'm currently doing one or 2 grocery runs a week.You can still find some good buys during the crisis. For instance, on a recent Walmart run, I bought a rotisserie chicken on sale for $3. (I can usually make 4 meals out of that.)I did my first return trip to ShopRite since I bought two rolls of recycled paper toilet paper several posts back. (I also noticed that traffic to the mall near the interstate was much lighter than usual.) It's odd the things you notice; I usually go in the left side entrance. I was wondering why there were so few carts here vs. the usual; just to explain, I usually head left to the customer service counter where they maintain a stack of flyers/store coupons. It looks like they've now separated the entrance and exits so I had to cut across the self-checkout section (and no new flyers, but their weekly ads are available through the Internet). So I think like Walmart, they've redesigned things to promote social distancing.
One of the odd things I noticed right away is by far the lightest shopper presence I've ever seen in the store and I saw more employees than ever before, all of them wearing face masks. Maybe half the customers wore face masks. I noticed replete messages for customers to maintain safe distances, limit household shoppers to one family member, several posted messages of purchase limits (particularly with paper products, fresh meats, eggs, dairy products, etc.) A lot of patchiness--bare spots here and there, like Walmart, odd things that stuck out to me, like refrigerated coffee creamers and specialized milk products (which aren't on my shopping list). I did buy a small pricey bottle of hand sanitizer, my first during the crisis. The paper products aisle is still pretty wiped out; they did seem to have a good supply of single rolls of recycled paper toilet paper. There really didn't seem to be that many items on special; not expensive, but more regular prices on items and/or modest discounts. It's difficult to explain what I mean, but I'll give an example. This week they did have Australian grass-fed ground beef pound bricks back in stock--for about $5. Less than list (and still better than Walmart, which sells theirs for about 10% more), but (before the crisis) they often sold for about $4/lb. Eggs were more expensive than the last time I bought them. (Walmart posted an apology for increasing their budget egg dozens from 88 cents to about $1, citing supplier price adjustments, still much cheaper.) There are odd things, like I needed to buy mustard and didn't see the typical store label in stock; they did have like 57 varieties of specialty mustard and a few bottles of a pricier national brand (which I ended up buying). It was like going to a Baskin-Robbins and ordering plain vanilla ice cream, and they tell you they're out, but other flavors are available.
One of the things I like about the supermarket chain is they provide some guidance on product available. Sample in-demand product restrictions available through store website:
Other categories are available through their coronavirus policy notification (e.g., fresh meat):
This recent grocery run was my last without a face mask. I heard my RN sister had picked up a hobby in the crisis making homemade face masks and asked her to make me one (after having run into problems finding one locally or at Amazon, at least available in the short run). It arrived shortly after I returned from my shopping errand.
Just in time as MD Gov. Hogan just announced yesterday a face mask mandate which so pissed me off that I wrote a critical tweet. What's interesting is that it got a little viral, pulling in nearly 2300 impressions; it's weird when I write a viral tweet because there's not a real formula to it. It's more like the tweet is delivered in the right time and place.
Election 2020
Of course, Biden is the presumptive nominee after the last viable competitor, Comrade Bernie, conceded and endorsed him; a number of delegate counts are dated (e.g., Politico and RCP, neither updating at least Biden's latest win in Alaska), but he's gotten roughly 1300 of the 2000 or so delegates needed for the nomination. Wyoming yesterday conducted an unusual mail-in caucus, with results expected to be released tomorrow. Given the way the Dems have pushed mail-in election balloting, I would not be surprised if we see this through the end of the primary.On the Libertarian Party front, Justin Amash is hinting that he may be thinking of pursuing the POTUS nomination; the LP has a convention next month. It seems that he stopped actively campaigning for reelection to his House seat back in February. I've made it clear I'm supporting Jacob Hornberger for the nomination and Amash entering the primary doesn't change that, but if Amash wins the nomination, I'll probably support him.
The picture still isn't clear from a Biden-Trump battle this fall. As I've tweeted, I think that Trump is particularly vulnerable the longer the "non-essential" economy is on hiatus. His COVID-19 polls have started to drop as well as his overall job approval rating. Gallup has pointed out that Trump has never reached the average 53% approval rating. The "good news" for Trump is that Biden has been almost ignored by the press while Trump dominates coverage with a daily presser on the crisis. Now normally the incumbency is an advantage, but with unemployment charting screaming new highs since the Depression, Trump is in definite trouble since the economy had been seen as his strongest card.
I'm looking at a few key facts as we head down the home stretch: can Biden get over the 50% mark in pairwise national polls and sustain it? Can he flip 4 or more 2016 Trump states? Right now I don't see Trump winning any Clinton states. Right now I think Biden is looking good in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he has solid shots at taking Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona and is close enough in Wisconsin and Texas. It's difficult to see Trump winning if he loses both Texas and Florida.
But if Biden can't stay above 50%, Trump has a shot. A lot depends on swing voters. Now I don't see Trump winning most undecideds, because you either like Trump or don't already. There's a lot that can happen between now and November. Biden could make some major mistake, like Dukakis' wife/rape gaffe, a Willie Horton moment, etc. Maybe the COVID-19 crisis finally starts to improve, the economy snaps back, and Trump starts running Reagan-like "It's morning in America again" spots. There's too much uncertainty to predict the outcome at this time, although if I had to make a guess at the current time, I would think Biden is the likely winner.
I think the GOP is in danger of losing its slim Senate majority; they are in danger of losing seats in Arizona, North Carolina, Maine, Montana, and Colorado and 3 seats are open (retiring senators): Wyoming, Kansas and Tennessee.
