We will be living in strange times now with coronavirus: example

This from ABC News. An odd little story giving an example of just how strange the CV situation is going to be making things.

It almost qualifies as a Friday Humor submission, but only in a dark humor sort of way.

It seems that there is growing reluctance now among people both in the U.S and in other countries to handle paper currency. This is out of fear that it may have been touched by someone with the virus, and thus has become a source of infection.

From the article below:

"Public officials and health experts have said that the risk of transferring the virus person-to-person through the use of banknotes is small. But that has not stopped businesses from refusing to accept currency and some countries from urging their citizens to stop using banknotes altogether."

and

“It’s not impossible that there might be traces of virus on dollar bills but if you wash your hands it should provide adequate protections, you shouldn’t need anything else.”

but also

"Other devices used to pay for items are just as likely to be vectors for disease transfer. Credit and debit cards are made of plastic and metal. ATMs are touched by hundreds of human hands a day."

So might there be circumstances where a person is walking along, sees a fiver or a tenspot that somebody has dropped on the ground, and is torn between running over and picking it up, and a hesitant thought "Gosh, it might be infected. I better leave it!"

Actually, in most cases I rather suspect he'll grab it right up, willing to chance it that it's not covered with virus.

Or, if he's a smart fellow, he'll pull out the plastic gloves he's been carrying in his pocket for just such an occasion and put them to good use.

How many other peculiar situations like this will now be arising in our daily lives?

Strange, indeed.

https://abcnews.go.com/us/wirestory/filthy-lucre-paper-money-shunned-fear-virus-spread-69701772

So the five is the new penny?

I guess some of you guys are a lot better of than my wife and I. When we're out for walks, we'll pick up any penny we find along the roadway.

A penny saved(found)......

Prato, what struck me lately is that none of us have ever lived in a deflationary economy--which is one possibility: If unemployment goes up to 20% (!), then demand will shrink, driving supply up and prices (and wages) down. And the spiral can become self perpetuating.

I know that's worst case--but---

Just got back from snowshoeing for 3 hrs what a great way to forget the craziness of the world and enjoy nature. I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy mother nature if possible it's free of the virus!! No coins or dollar bills out on the beaver flowage we were on just good abundant vitamin D!!!

Larry

81GyGuy said...
This from ABC News. An odd little story giving an example of just how strange the CV situation is going to be making things.

It almost qualifies as a Friday Humor submission, but only in a dark humor sort of way.

It seems that there is growing reluctance now among people both in the U.S and in other countries to handle paper currency. This is out of fear that it may have been touched by someone with the virus, and thus has become a source of infection.

From the article below:

"Public officials and health experts have said that the risk of transferring the virus person-to-person through the use of banknotes is small. But that has not stopped businesses from refusing to accept currency and some countries from urging their citizens to stop using banknotes altogether."

and

“It’s not impossible that there might be traces of virus on dollar bills but if you wash your hands it should provide adequate protections, you shouldn’t need anything else.”

but also

"Other devices used to pay for items are just as likely to be vectors for disease transfer. Credit and debit cards are made of plastic and metal. ATMs are touched by hundreds of human hands a day."

So might there be circumstances where a person is walking along, sees a fiver or a tenspot that somebody has dropped on the ground, and is torn between running over and picking it up, and a hesitant thought "Gosh, it might be infected. I better leave it!"

Actually, in most cases I rather suspect he'll grab it right up, willing to chance it that it's not covered with virus.

Or, if he's a smart fellow, he'll pull out the plastic gloves he's been carrying in his pocket for just such an occasion and put them to good use.

How many other peculiar situations like this will now be arising in our daily lives?

Strange, indeed.

https://abcnews.go.com/us/wirestory/filthy-lucre-paper-money-shunned-fear-virus-spread-69701772

I was in Yosemite until Wednesday. by Tuesday they quit manning the entrances (they did not want to handle money or credit cards)

mattam said...
I don't know jack **** about economics. But my gut tells me that when the time comes, the country will be raring to go at all levels.

many people believe that coronavirus is responsible for our economic woes just like they thought the 9/11 attacks were responsible for the .com implosion.

but I do agree the economy will rise again. eventually.

today the government closed Yosemite np to the public. I expect other nps to close too.

That's an interesting point Hal. In my office they supply lunch daily and most of our staff uses the service. I know that the busy families in my area do a lot restaurant runs during the week - the delivery service DoorDash is popular around here. One guy at my office told me that his family cooks at home maybe one or twice a week with most of their meals provided for by employers, schools, or various takeout places.

On the "random" chat channel at work, there are a lot of complaints about having to cook, "Everyday" and how long the waits for DoorDash to deliver have been.

There's also been a general discovery that you can order food from Amazon.

another thing. some stores are offering "senior hours". for example all costcos will be open 8-9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays only to members over 60 and people with handicaps. these hours start next week. i'll be buying more food and other essentials next week. again, this is non-perishable stuff I'll use anyway even if covid-19 mysteriously disappears.

What I noticed in the grocery store this morning was not the lack of TP--which is real--but the lack of eggs and fresh fruit: These are things that you can't hoard, they just don't keep that long. Which really does focus my thoughts on a seismic shift in people's eating habits. We've all heard for years about the disappearing family dinner hour. Now that suddenly it is back for everyone, all at once, the imbalance in the food distribution system is obvious.

To me much of the difference in grocery shopping is that I'm trying to do it for a much longer period of time. Previously, it was rare to buy more 2-3 days of groceries...but since I want to avoid going out, I purchase enough to last longer. We have switched to grocery delivery and I was surprised how difficult that was to do. We had to order a week in advance from the local grocer and I've since signed up for Instacart and you almost have to get lucky to find a delivery window. I plan on always thinking about grocery needs a week in advance.

Our first grocery delivery is scheduled for tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how many things we ordered that they don't have in stock...

My son and his wife have three kids at home, two in junior high and one a junior in high school. My daughter also has 3 kids, ranging from the fifth grade to a freshman in high school. We were talking about food hoarding, and they were quick to point out that if you shop for two weeks of groceries for families of that size, with the kids and the Mom and maybe even the Dad home all day, two weeks of grocery shopping my look like hoarding, but it's not. It just takes a whole lot of groceries with the kids now home all day and grazing at the fridge and pantry, plus no going out to restaurants. No school lunches. I still don't fully understand the toilet paper phenomenon, but I do now better understand the depletion of grocery items.