UK is crazy, everybody is out and about without a care in the world. They’re just having the St Paddy’s day parade in Manchester city center.

I’ve had trips coming up to Spain and US so I’m royally fawked.

I live in Iceland. We are not on lockdown and my mom dragged me to the theater yesterday LOL but everybody is talking about the virus. There are close to 1000 in quarantine and many companies have decided to close temporarily. There is news conference and update every day and the Icelandic company Decode is testing everybody regardless of symptoms. I have been tested but not given the results which all points out that I'm negative, which is good. They also think about 1 percent of the country is infected although the official number is considerably lower. Update: My test is negative.

Seattle

@KennBoy said:

Seattle

How is Seattle? I was supposed to go there in April :( My friend says it’s now like a ghost town.

@Stacey101 said:

@KennBoy said:

Seattle

How is Seattle? I was supposed to go there in April :( My friend says it’s now like a ghost town.

It’s getting better. I feel like last week was the worst time to be in the city, everyone is so paranoid and anxious. If you sneeze or cough, you’re automatically a suspect.

Hopefully it clears out before you get here! It’s still a beautiful city, I moved here almost 2 years ago

I'm writing from the United States; I'm a little anxious to share my exact location on the inter-webs, although it has nothing to do with the virus-- I'm just a private person. However, for you folks who paid attention in geography class, my state is usually considered part of the Midwest, and it is the only interior state which is (mostly) surrounded by water. My user name is another hint:)

Anyway, our governor has declared public gatherings of more than 250 people banned, and K-12 schools are closed until the second week of April. Grocery stores and factories are exempt from the ban. Automotive traffic is dramatically down, most people seem to be staying in, although most restaurants are still open, as well as movie theaters-- in fact, I just got back from seeing "The Hunt" today. It was a multiplex, and though there were a few people in the other theaters, I was the only one in my particular theater!

People's attitudes around here are a mix of high anxiety on the one hand, and frustration on the other-- as in our State and Federal governments are overreacting. As of this writing-- March 15 --the U.S. has experienced a death toll from COVID-19 of 59.

Fifty-nine.

A typical flu season in the U.S. will run 30,000 deaths or more.

@KennBoy said:

@Stacey101 said:

@KennBoy said:

Seattle

How is Seattle? I was supposed to go there in April :( My friend says it’s now like a ghost town.

It’s getting better. I feel like last week was the worst time to be in the city, everyone is so paranoid and anxious. If you sneeze or cough, you’re automatically a suspect.

Hopefully it clears out before you get here! It’s still a beautiful city, I moved here almost 2 years ago

We cancelled our trip, we were supposed to fly out on the 13th of April but Trumps ban on European travel is supposed to end that day so we decided not to risk it.

@northcoast said:

Fifty-nine.

A typical flu season in the U.S. will run 30,000 deaths or more.

Well, that's because the flu has way more people infected during the year and the Corona virus hasn't infected that many yet. I'm not here for the "but the flu kills more people" discussions, because it still doesn't change the fact that we don't need a new virus around that kills 43 percent of elderly people. And we don't need it to mutate and infect more people.

Sorry but people need to stop with all that flu comparison. It doesn't change anything in regards to the new virus.

@northcoast said:

I'm writing from the United States; I'm a little anxious to share my exact location on the inter-webs, although it has nothing to do with the virus-- I'm just a private person. However, for you folks who paid attention in geography class, my state is usually considered part of the Midwest, and it is the only interior state which is (mostly) surrounded by water. My user name is another hint:)

Anyway, our governor has declared public gatherings of more than 250 people banned, and K-12 schools are closed until the second week of April. Grocery stores and factories are exempt from the ban. Automotive traffic is dramatically down, most people seem to be staying in, although most restaurants are still open, as well as movie theaters-- in fact, I just got back from seeing "The Hunt" today. It was a multiplex, and though there were a few people in the other theaters, I was the only one in my particular theater!

People's attitudes around here are a mix of high anxiety on the one hand, and frustration on the other-- as in our State and Federal governments are overreacting. As of this writing-- March 15 --the U.S. has experienced a death toll from COVID-19 of 59.

Fifty-nine.

A typical flu season in the U.S. will run 30,000 deaths or more.

A Michigander?

I live in Washington State, all schools (public & private) are closed until April 24. As of 3:00 pm today we have 769 confirmed cases & 42 deaths. I don't go out much (about once a week to the grocery store, the pot store, etc.), I do use public transit, but even before this virus, I was really careful (I'm a huge germaphobe).

I'm wondering what all the parents of school-age children are going to do about childcare? Not a lot of parents can afford to stay home from work for six weeks. But there is one good thing about my city/county, kids who were getting a free lunch can still go to 6 or 7 middle schools & get 2 meals (lunch & breakfast for the next day), they have also set up a drive-through at those schools for people that do not want to go into the schools.

And remember to WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY & STOP TOUCHING YOUR FACE!

@northcoast said:

I'm writing from the United States; I'm a little anxious to share my exact location on the inter-webs, although it has nothing to do with the virus-- I'm just a private person. However, for you folks who paid attention in geography class, my state is usually considered part of the Midwest, and it is the only interior state which is (mostly) surrounded by water. My user name is another hint:)

Anyway, our governor has declared public gatherings of more than 250 people banned, and K-12 schools are closed until the second week of April. Grocery stores and factories are exempt from the ban. Automotive traffic is dramatically down, most people seem to be staying in, although most restaurants are still open, as well as movie theaters-- in fact, I just got back from seeing "The Hunt" today. It was a multiplex, and though there were a few people in the other theaters, I was the only one in my particular theater!

People's attitudes around here are a mix of high anxiety on the one hand, and frustration on the other-- as in our State and Federal governments are overreacting. As of this writing-- March 15 --the U.S. has experienced a death toll from COVID-19 of 59.

Fifty-nine.

A typical flu season in the U.S. will run 30,000 deaths or more.

So basically Michigan? That’s where I was born

In Iceland they are testing people, some have symptoms, others have not. They are from there on tracing and estimating how many people might have the virus. They estimate that 1 percent of the country has the virus which means that 3600 people have it. The official cases are 180. I would think the number might be similar elsewhere in Europe which means that in the UK, they might expect over half a million people to have the virus or more even though the cases are a little over 1,000.

I am startled how things are turning in Italy and they have been on lock down for few days now but it's spreading even faster now.

In Scotland panic buyers seem to be out in full force. Toilet roll, canned food, pasta, refrigerated chicken, and paracetamol are scarce in supermarkets. People are so stupid, they just need to calm down, and get through it. Buying out the entire store is just going to contribute to the problem. Luckily local newsagents aren’t as chaotic.

Not all, but some universities seem to be closing down for a period of time, to wait out the worst of the outbreak. Our government has advised that mass gatherings of 500 people or more should be banned to lessen the work load of local emergency services.

In Scotland panic buyers seem to be out in full force. Toilet roll, canned food, pasta, refrigerated chicken, and paracetamol are scarce in supermarkets. People are so stupid, they just need to calm down, and get through it. Buying out the entire store is just going to contribute to the problem. Luckily local newsagents aren’t as chaotic.

Yeah. They are restricting movements of people not movements of goods and products. Same thing is happening where I live and the stores are like, there is plenty of food and toiletries. Don't panic but right now they can only let certain amount of people in stores so I guess people want to stock up instead of maybe having to wait in line to get into stores.

From Monday - universities will be closing. Supermarkets will limit the number to 100 that can be inside at the same time. Movie theaters can only sell x amount of tickets etc.

@snoho said:

In Scotland panic buyers seem to be out in full force. Toilet roll, canned food, pasta, refrigerated chicken, and paracetamol are scarce in supermarkets. People are so stupid, they just need to calm down, and get through it. Buying out the entire store is just going to contribute to the problem. Luckily local newsagents aren’t as chaotic.

Not all, but some universities seem to be closing down for a period of time, to wait out the worst of the outbreak. Our government has advised that mass gatherings of 500 people or more should be banned to lessen the work load of local emergency services.

I don't understand the toilet paper thing? I can see the bottled water, canned goods, etc. But why the hell do you need a 100 rolls of toilet paper?