Oh I'm not worried personally but was just answering a post with what I believe to be a very highly unlikely but legal method to force people to work. I REd, have everything invested in US aluminum foil, underground bunkers and rice and beans so I'm good to go ;-).
Posting from Seattle here - You're waaaay behind the times. Don't you know you should also have enough toilet paper to see everyone you've ever met through Armageddon??! It's what your bunker should be made of!
Seriously, though, the "panic" the media has been talking about here is waaaay overblown. Yeah, the traffic jams are gone because people are working from home more. But I consider that a good thing. Yay, fewer emissions! And when I took my kid to the park today it was busy busy. COVID-19 is a daily topic of conversation but no one--including the family I know who's under self-quarantine due to exposure--is terribly upset. Pragmatic is what I'd say.
If you want to do something helpful, donate money to food banks and homeless shelters. They're going to be pretty stretched for resources. There is also a
GoFundMe to help feed healthcare workers in the Seattle area, since they're working overtime. (Already, due to the flu, and now this on top of that.) (I know, I hate GoFundMe too. But that's how this was set up, I don't control it.)
Last, check on your elderly neighbors please.
here's some fun math:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236095180459003909.html
at some point, a govt authority (state/federal) will need to instruct citizens to remain at work, otherwise it will result in a complete meltdown of our economic engine, food supply, consumables, etc. the virus will need to spread to the whole population. those 50+ or immunocompromised will have to hide.
i really don't see an alternative to this. our society is too on-demand. too industrialized. when the chain breaks down, the SHTF, hard. civil unrest, riots, pillaging, etc are not unreasonable, especially here in the US with no national healthcare, no safety nets (unless you're a bank), and a lot of guns.
I joked to my husband that if this turns into a full-blown survival situation I'm going to be
pissed that I only ordered five lbs. of potato starts. :)
One of the CCP's stated reasons for lifting lockdown measures and wanting to get the country back to work was to ensure planting of spring crops happened on time. Farmers in the US are on average older than the general populace (over 55), which since it's the US also generally means in poor health. And since so many rural hospitals have closed in the last decade it also means that they're less likely to receive adequate healthcare (timing can be important), or that there will be enough beds in hospitals to treat all the rural people who cluster at the nearest ones *if this outbreak gets bad enough*.
I don't think this will actually happen, at least not enough to impact the food supply. But it is interesting to think about from a purely theoretical standpoint.
Much of what I said above could also be applied to truckers. There aren't enough long-haul truckers in the country as it is, and due to the sedentary job they are generally overweight. If enough of them get sick then things might get rough for a short period of time. But that's a pretty big 'if' at this point. It feels more like speculating about what would happen if Seattle also had a major earthquake at the peak of this outbreak. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely to? Statistically no. It would be silly to plan around it and assume that it will happen.
