Musings on the Path

Last week when we went to the HEB supermarket, they offered curbside service with all fees waived. We’ve now eaten all fresh fruit and vegetables in the house. It’s time to go again. Central Market (HEB’s premium brand) carries several things that we are out of and that no one else carries. Janelle signed up last night for curbside pickup, but there were no pickup slots available. This morning she tried again and the first available slot is April 4, nine days away. Not a plan.

This morning we had lattes, split a blueberry muffin, and drove down to Central Market around 9am. There was a short line outside and no one in the curbside pickup lanes. I grabbed some wipes and a cart, wiped it down front and back, and got in line. Janelle went to ask the line monitor what’s going on? They were letting shoppers in 5 at a time. Also it was the expected high traffic time and they didn’t want it and curbside service interfering with each other.

In five minutes, they let us in. People kept their distance and shopping was orderly with short waits at the meat counter. There were no obvious shortages. In a week we’ll try curbside service again. I expect they will find a better way to keep curbside pickup and in-person shopping from interfering.

For those who believe in salvation by numbers, Worldometer‘s Coronavirus pages are ongoing source of revelation, especially the “Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance” chart partway down the page. You can sort by total cases, total deaths, new cases and deaths, etc. For me the cases per million population and deaths per million are key.

The Weather Underground‘s WunderMap displays weather worldwide with overlays for satellite photos (infrared and visible), radar, rate of precipitation, etc. Today they added coronavirus cases and deaths by county and by state, US only.

Donald Trump and Dan Patrick (Texas Lt. Governor) are suggesting we roll back the lockdowns, shelter-in-place orders, and other measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in order to save the economy.

Spain’s approach to controlling the COVID-19 outbreak is similar to what’s being done in this country, though more uniform across the country and further along. See Spain’s coronavirus death toll jumps 514 in 24 hours for a glimpse of what our future might look like. Do we want a future worse than that? What will the economy look like under that scenario?

A week ago, the Austin mayor and a Travis County judge issued a lockdown order. Today, a week later, they issued a “shelter in place” order. Usually, a lockdown is more restrictive than a shelter in place order. Here, it’s the other way around. Today’s order has steeper penalties (fines up to $1000 and sentences up to 180 days in jail). It tightens which businesses may remain open and is more explicit what constitutes “essential services”. It doesn’t change much what we do: go grocery shopping, pickup prescriptions at the pharmacy, and go to the park for exercise. All three give us some in-person human interaction. E-mail, text messages, phone calls, and Zoom Meetings are good, but not enough.

Why is it so hard to get tested? And why does it take so long? It isn’t a technical problem, so much as a supply problem. FiveThirtyEight, the sports prediction and political polling/prediction Web site has two articles describing the problem. For a text description, see How Coronavirus Tests Actually Work. For video, see Why The U.S. Can’t Process Coronavirus Tests As Fast As South Korea.

My wife, an extrovert, is going nuts during the lockdown. Shopping is our only face to face interaction with other people. Because of our age, various supermarkets will deliver, often for free. We understand the risk and appreciate the offers. Age is our only risk factor. Cabin fever is not a listed risk factor. Websites for seniors warn of the risks of declining social interaction.

Both extroverts and introverts are at risk for cabin fever. The signs are different and the risks are different. Extroverts hit their limits of isolation/solitude/loneliness sooner and more urgently. Introverts like me quietly go about our work that may not require much interaction with people. I can put together submissions to poetry journals all day and feel some sense of accomplishment. My wife, not so much. My previous career, programming, was the same way, though programming teams must communicate and e-mail is not always enough. Her previous careers required much more face to face communication.

This morning she complained she had nothing to do. I have a smartphone full of tasks to do, many at her request. So I said, “Now you have time to write.” She said, “Not alone.” After our walk in the park together, saying hello to the people, dogs, and plants, we will have a writing session together. Just after I get this poetry submission out 😉

Austin has plenty of coffeehouses and seems to start the day with breakfast tacos and coffee, frequently espresso drinks. The Starbucks in Austin without drive-thru windows are closed in line with the city’s “lockdown” to slow the spread of the coronavirus. So how are espresso addicts coping? By making their own. My wife saw an SUV in the parking lot full of young adults with the tailgate down, opening a home espresso machine box and peering at all the pieces.

We’ve had De’Longhi espresso machine (ECP 3420) for over a year. There’s a months to year long learning curve to great espresso, but decent espresso is a week or less away.

Last week 185 test kits were available for drive-thru tests in Austin. The CDC eligibility criteria is still in place: fever and difficulty breathing, or contact with an infected person. This week there are 160 test kits available. Two Fridays ago (March 13) there were 49 confirmed coronavirus cases in Texas. Last Friday (March 20) there were 53 confirmed cases in Austin alone. As of yesterday, there were 79 cases in Austin, though no hospitalizations so far. Expect the confirmed cases to climb with the new batch of tests available. There are a half million to one million people in Austin and the Greater Austin area (Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties), respectively. This compares with the national average of 74 tests per million people.

On Saturday our pharmacy stopped accepting cash. Credit cards and checks are okay. Today our credit union was ATM and drive-thru only. The cash from the drive-thru was all new bills. China is destroying a lot of cash and printing new bills. Cash passes through many hands. Checks just the writer and the clerk(s). Credit cards have passed thru many hands but as restaurant dining rooms and bars shutdown fewer and fewer.

The coronavirus persists 4-6 hours on absorbent surfaces like cloth, paper, and presumably cash. Hard surfaces like credit cards 10-12 hours. Near Field Communications (NFC) devices like Apple Pay and Google Pay are contact-less, so no transmission as long as you don’t sneeze or cough.