Palm Springs / virus / shopping (# 0445)

Grocery store near my house, on the 11th day of “shelter in place” (SiP). Though this looks busy, it is rather quiet for what would be the height of our tourist season. Talking with one of the clerks that I know, she said the store self-monitors how many shoppers are in it. She said they try to keep it around 50, when it gets around 70 they put guards at the door and limit entry. The first time I went after SiP was instituted, there was a line of about 20 people waiting to get in (all standing at least 6’ apart.) For about the first week of SiP, there were a fair number of shelves empty, but distribution seems to be working okay now with the exception of toilet paper and cleaning supplies, which are tight. Though health officials are recommending limiting shopping trips so as to limit exposure to the virus, there is currently no actual limit.

One of the reasons the parking lot is as busy as it is, is that there is also a large drug store in the shopping center and multiple restaurants that are serving ‘takeour’ food (adjacent photo).

We clearly aren’t facing the limits that many in Europe are facing. Compared to the rest of the U.S., I don’t know. I get multiple new sources, but none are talking about what conditions are like in daily life for those that are healthy.