Differences are Already Noticeable

I went shopping today, for the first time in quite a while (aside from ducking into the grocery store). I made a pass through Kohl’s, PetSmart, Target, and Home Depot, all clustered together. For the first time ever, there was no wait for the cashier at any of them. Only Home Depot was showing any signs of life. The other three stores were nearly empty. People are staying home. The people that work there, probably can’t afford to stay home.

Time to make sure my elected federal representatives are clear that any extra corporate subsidies to make up for lost business need to be strictly pass-throughs to the employees. How can that be assured? I’m sure there are policy wonks that have that figured out already.

I was disconcerted today to find myself grouped by the way newspapers reported CDC recommendations into the “at risk population”. I decided I’m basically healthy, and except for washing hands and being conscious of touching my face, I’m not going to modify behavior much. I don’t feel old. But there was a very amusing segment on The Daily Show where the very young guy referred to “old people like you” as the only ones that should be worried. When Trevor Noah protested, “I’m not old” the guy laughed and said, “I guess we’ll let ol’ Rona Virus decide that!”  Indeed.