Coronavirus

[peteroldracer]

I must say I feel safer here in Spain than in the dithering UK.
I have just been to our health centre to request a prescription for my OH. The car park is bolted and the receptionist is gloved and masked behind a glass screen with a red/white striped tape "fence" a metre in front of the desk, her sitting a further metre behind that. Showed her card, copy of the last prescription, a bit of keyboarding then told not to come back, just go to the farmacia later today or tomorrow when the script will be on the computer. The centre was virtually deserted apart from a few white-coated figures and the streets devoid of nearly all life bar one police car patrolling and some builders building.
Compare that to the attitudes and advice being dished out in the UK: the admin of the site where our caravan is have been emailing to ask that folk use phones to order new gas cylinders "to protect the office staff" yet follow this up with messages urging clients to use the clubhouse for meals and drinks, use the shop and book their table for a grand Mothers' Day Lunch, and a report on how good the St. Patrick's Day bash was...
I despair.
There must be a timebomb ticking with the concept of separation totally not understood - in fact Wetherspoons boss has just spouted that pubs must remain open! never mind the virus being deposited on the bar, on the glasses, the dining tables, the cutlery, just waiting for an unsuspecting victim who probably has not washed their hands in days!

[katy]

Facebook is vile and full of lies and sweeping statements. Even worse the newspapers have started to pull stories from it.

Guardian has reported that deaths in Spain have rose above 1000. health services are running out of masks and equipment, not surprised.

[markwilding]

Having a sense of humor is not a bad thing and contrary to popular belief is not exclusive to the British/

I have read that Tim Martin CEO of Wetherspoons has decided not to close his pubs saying that it would be 'over the top'.

There again he has history of not listening to experts and telling us that belief is enough. It's not for me to give advice to such a successful businessman and maybe he is doing so already, but he might be off preparing for the inevitable closure of his pubs by setting up take away facilities.

[country boy]

QUESTION.
Are there any restrictions on how far one can travel to buy food/supplies etc. We live in the Campo and usually use several of the nearby Towns to obtain various items. Including as far as the Coast.

[El Cid]

I don't think there are any distance restrictions as such, but you may need to justify why your shopping trip takes you a long way from home.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

I must say I feel safer here in Spain than in the dithering UK.

With all due respect, how your caravan site operates has little to do with what I see in the real world UK.
The scenario you also describe at your health centre is mirrored here too, as well as the chemists, very strict indeed. Even the local shops are making you disinfect your hands with the provided alcohol gel and towels where I live.

Also although you only believe what you see in the news but all pubs around here have shut already with more closing in nearby areas each day. Local restaurants are switching to card only payments and a lot are only now offering a collection service.

As for shopping habits people are only doing as they are doing in Spain, going to the shops to get their goods. Panic buying has been rife in the news as it has been in Spain but it was as calm as you like this morning with fully stocked shops.......in fact the bog roll hoarders must be crying in their beer today with the amount that was available with no takers.

Shops were quiet too for a Friday, they'd be a hell of a lot quieter if the major supermarkets honoured their online orders and delivered what you asked for, instead of delivering 50% of it. This in turn forces people out to get the essentials, which are plentiful on the shelves. These people should be investigated when the dust settles, they have been a root cause of a lot of the grief.

Surreal times for sure but we have to keep the facts correct, hence me answering the point brought up above. There are too many comments which are way off the mark at present. It is awful and will get worse if the figures in Spain and especially Italy are mirrored here, which I think they will be sadly, but as things stand at the moment what I've said above is how it's operating here at present. People and businesses seem to be self isolating before it gets written in to law, that's a fact.

[peteroldracer]

We have several family members in the UK and all without exception are reporting (3 today) that there are fights in the aisles and an absence of many basics like eggs, pasta, rice, baby food.
This is in Leeds, Devon and Kent so you must be very fortunate where you are. I reckon Boris has nightmares about what things were like in the Poll Tax riots, where the great unwashed clearly showed that they are only interested in what suits them, and no respect for what government decrees is best for all - so he is taking the worst course of fence-sitting.
Glad I am in Spain, as I said.

[K&LTupper]

Spoke to Brother in Essex and Sister in Plymouth.....all big supermarkets virtually scavenged bare by panic buyers, no fresh meats, precious little veg or milk..even fighting over trolleys in car park in Plymouth. whereas Lidl here in Spain fully stocked and orderly shoppers.

[Devils Advocate]

We have several family members in the UK and all without exception are reporting (3 today) that there are fights in the aisles and an absence of many basics like eggs, pasta, rice, baby food.
This is in Leeds, Devon and Kent so you must be very fortunate where you are.

Well I've been to 3 different local towns today and as I said earlier the shops were not as busy as a normal Friday and stocked up very well. That is a fact. There was not one item that Ocado and Tesco let us down with you couldn't buy with ease. As for fights in the aisles it seems we must be lucky in our area as you say. Certainly no shortage of fresh fish, meats and veg either, can't comment on packeted pasta etc. as I never looked and don't use it. Actually bought Thai Fragrant rice today though funnily enough, and even the local BP garage has a fridge full of eggs. It must be regional hearing your reports and it could at some point could spread here. It's not fun though for you family members who've been struggling with it sadly.

[qe2ex]

Spoke to Brother in Essex and Sister in Plymouth.....all big supermarkets virtually scavenged bare by panic buyers, no fresh meats, precious little veg or milk..even fighting over trolleys in car park in Plymouth. whereas Lidl here in Spain fully stocked and orderly shoppers.

Thing were pretty bare here on thursday/friday/saturday too though. Tried on each day to buy some ground meat, but none to be had even though I stopped in two-three shops on the way back home each day. Yeah I know, tragedy of the century. Not much other meat available either though, sans a few of the most expensive cuts.

hankfully things have, as I expected, returned to normal now, as I guess it will in the UK too once the troublemakers have finished hoarding what they think they need.

Suspect it's a few idiots that that start to hoard things, and then more normal people see shelves are getting empty, and they too feel they must "get it before it's gone forever ". This makes things a bit difficult for the first few days, but after the wave has passed, a few people are stuck with the house full of toilet papers and bad quality food lasting them the next couple of years, while the rest of us go back to shopping more or less as normal. It's not like all the farmers, meat producers, fishermen, etc. don't want to continue selling their food and earn an income, and it's not like the government is going to want to forbid them from doing so.

[Lavanda]

I get reports from Devon, as well, peteroldracer. Empty shops. Chaos, Hopeless. However, that's just one town in Devon. Another friend in Newcastle says the shops are devastated with everything gone by 9.30 every day. My nephew in Swindon sends photos of empty shelves. My niece is a midwife. After her hospital shift she goes to shop and finds ... zilch. However, that is only a snapshot of three places across the UK. There must be many places functioning as normal otherwise starvation would be a bigger killer than the virus.

Agree, qe2ex, things will settle down once people realise that shops have continuous supplies and just now on the news supermarkets are looking to recruit 25,000 temporary workers to cover the demand, including for on-line shopping. I did an on-line Sainsburys shop for my parents this week. A few things were substituted and for the next shop we have £3,00+ credit. Mum was happy. The system seems to work. So far, so good.

[olive]

Funny how these threads descend into *beep* contests. My government is better than yours comments.

Strange how a little country like Italy has had more deaths than China. Strange how Germany has fared very well but is suddenly gripped. You could argue Spain has acted badly as it has had more deaths than say a similar sized country population wise. I think housing models, greeting models and commuting and international travel models play a big part so one size won't fit all.

The British model is all about smoothing or delaying the peaks of hospitalised folk. That seems eminently reasonable despite them using turning on/off social distancing as a tool to control those peaks. You could argue the Italian model has just been about getting the peak out of the way and having to make very very difficult triage decisions about who gets the available treatment and who doesn't. I wonder if any countries model just involves " tough on the vulnerable but at least of GDP isn't shattered"? This is the fine line countries are walking between saving more lives and ruining their economies.

There isn't a book , turn to C for Corona virus how to deal with. We will only know well after the event which countries acted well and which didn't. Then there will be an entry for CV19 as there is for MERS, SARS, Ebola and so on.

Oh on armchair forum advice, I went to our local UK corner shop and got each of the items on my list. Not a great choice and a bit more but no milling throngs.

Finally SIL works at a large local supermarket. After another chaotic day she wanted a bag of sugar. Only uses one a year. None on shelves but went to corner shop and got one (plenty on shelves)

"It's not like all the farmers, meat producers, fishermen, etc. don't want to continue selling their food and earn an income, and it's not like the government is going to want to forbid them from doing so." see my earlier post the big supermarkets are drastically streamlining their lines to facilitate restocking. It won't be the big suppliers cut out but the niche suppliers.

[markwilding]

I don't think it's a competition. Don't forget though it's not just about want suppliers and producers want, the workers must be available to do the work as well so it's important to keep them fit and well. The UK has come up with what seems to be good measures to protect the workforce and seems to be getting its act together.However this is new waters for everybody so until this pans out and is assessed, nobody can claim to be correct.
One thing I'm now confused about is the empty shelves in the supermarkets in the UK. I'm getting my news from the British press and listening to LBC and the impression, both from the pictures and anecdotal evidence, I'm getting is that there are major problems because the demand has risen and the supply chains can't keep up. Is this fake news or are the supermarkets shelves full?

[Lavanda]

They are empty in places where my family and friends have tried to go shopping (see my earlier post). Supermarkets are trying to recruit thousands of temporary staff to help with everything during the time of panic, i.e. from now until whenever the virus is under control.

Agree, it's not a competition. It's just sharing information.

[Paulinmalaga]

Soz duplicate post

[Paulinmalaga]

I don't think it's a competition. Don't forget though it's not just about want suppliers and producers want, the workers must be available to do the work as well so it's important to keep them fit and well. The UK has come up with what seems to be good measures to protect the workforce and seems to be getting its act together.However this is new waters for everybody so until this pans out and is assessed, nobody can claim to be correct.
One thing I'm now confused about is the empty shelves in the supermarkets in the UK. I'm getting my news from the British press and listening to LBC and the impression, both from the pictures and anecdotal evidence, I'm getting is that there are major problems because the demand has risen and the supply chains can't keep up. Is this fake news or are the supermarkets shelves full?

No there is one Major flaw. Children of Workers on the Gov list of Key Workers and Vulnerable children are being sent to school to mix with other children of key workers and teachers all day long and then go home in the evening where they can infect their parents. To me this is madness a lottery. A disaster waiting to happen. I have no answer as I'm not clever enough but surely there must be a better way.

[gerryh]

Spoke to my son who lives in Cornwall.
Their local supermarket had many empty shelves when they tried to shop yesterday.
It was the same hee early last week just after the lockdown started.
Been out shopping today to a couple of supermarket, all shelves back to normal with only a few shoppers in the supermarkets.
Cheers
Gerry

[markwilding]

No there is one Major flaw. Children of Workers on the Gov list of Key Workers and Vulnerable children are being sent to school to mix with other children of key workers and teachers all day long and then go home in the evening where they can infect their parents. To me this is madness a lottery. A disaster waiting to happen. I have no answer as I'm not clever enough but surely there must be a better way.

So it seems,
I also have seen on the news this morning that the self employed are not included either. Not helpful to the vast numbers that have spring up over the last few years. Boris and his mates have a habit of speaking with forked tongue so good scrutiny is required.

On the other hand, I've not heard much from the Spanish government over the last few days regarding the protection rights of self employed either, Ihope my 'Autonomo' payments are reduced without losing the medical protection they offer or losing some of my pension rights.

[katy]

I don't think it's a competition. Don't forget though it's not just about want suppliers and producers want, the workers must be available to do the work as well so it's important to keep them fit and well. The UK has come up with what seems to be good measures to protect the workforce and seems to be getting its act together.However this is new waters for everybody so until this pans out and is assessed, nobody can claim to be correct.
One thing I'm now confused about is the empty shelves in the supermarkets in the UK. I'm getting my news from the British press and listening to LBC and the impression, both from the pictures and anecdotal evidence, I'm getting is that there are major problems because the demand has risen and the supply chains can't keep up. Is this fake news or are the supermarkets shelves full?

Not having asked Brenda from Bristol or others all around the country I know can't say for every area. I think it is London that is having a lot of queues and the big Hypers like Costco and other out of towns. Never had a problem at local Waitrose, all normal except just coloured toilet rolls left. Then yesterday there was a blip! called in as I was passing from the Doctors. was 5.30pm. Was a huge delivery truck there. Wanted to buy potatoes baby ones and Maris Piper. all the fruit and veg was stripped bare! Odd items also empty like cereals. Plenty of fresh foods, cheeses meat, pizzas etc. Can't understand it. OH reckons it is because we are a collection of small villages here and many Londoners have moved and commute. as they are now housebound they are shopping locally.

Communities are organising. A good system run by valid well known people has started today where shopping will be collected and delivered, no money changing hands. only with about 5 local shops PO> butchers, village shops and chemist. Tesco has just posted on the local forum that they will be opening an hour early Sunday for pensioners and vulnerable only with a fully stocked shop,

I am sceptical about the newspapers, they and the TV created this panic and some photos taken were not all they seemed according to workers. Sure there may have been some scuffles as have seen reports in France and Australia and most european countries

[Wicksey]

A friend in Suffolk tried 5 local supermarkets early the other morning and they'd all sold out of toilet rolls. What is this obsession with toilet rolls?? Glad to report that the shops here are very civilised and well stocked. Quiet as well. If everyone shops normally then there shouldn't be shortages. Daily I'm reading many a letter in the Daily Telegraph from all areas of the UK reporting empty supermarket shelves, but it seems that the smaller local shops are OK. Friends in Essex say they'll shop at the farm shop and village grocery store who seem to have everything they need, so this should be good for the small trader.