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Covid 19 - Updates from your zones

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Gwenno:
We're going to be discussing how Covid 19 is impacting our countries and our lives quite a lot in the coming months so it makes sense to have a place specifically for this. This thread is for letting people know what's happening in your area, wherever that may be. There is also a thoughts and feelings thread to discuss your feelings relating to these trying times in case somebody just needs to vent a bit.

wavewright62:
Thanks Gwenno, I guess I can kick it off, although have already shared most of this in General. 
New Zealand has been on Level 4 - complete lockdown - since midnight 25 March, putatively lasting for 4 weeks.  We were only on Level 2 for a week and Level 3 for about 3 days, so there was a lot of panic buying here.  Everybody is meant to stay in the place they were as at midnight on the 25th, leaving only to "access essential services" including supermarkets/grocery stores & pharmacies, and that's pretty much it.  You can keep contact with the people in your household 'bubble', although self-isolation within a household applies for household members who have been overseas or are a close contact of a case.  You are not allowed to go out, in a private car, to go fishing or hiking or such, in case you get into any difficulties which would require use of emergency responders or other support people.
Public transport is still running here on a reduced schedule, but only as an allowance for people to commute to their essential jobs (must show ID to the driver from the kerb, then enter through the back door) or access the above essential services.  I live on a street where dozens of bus routes transit, and bus after bus passes by, empty.
Supermarkets are open, and restocked for most items, but there are strict rules on distancing and amount of shoppers allowed in the store at any time.  Smaller operations are one-in-one-out, larger supermarkets have tape at 2m distances for people in the entry queues to stand on.  Only one person from a bubble is allowed to shop at a time.  There are long queues, as you might imagine, with bits of tape placed around city blocks.  You are issued a trolley when you enter, as a) hand baskets are harder to sanitise between shoppers, and b) the length of the trolley is meant to help you gauge your distance from other shoppers.  Some chains have installed perspex shields for the checkout staff, and cash is discouraged.  Additional services like lotto kiosks or coffee stations resident in larger supermarkets are shut.
My company has always been positioned to work from anywhere, as a learning from dealing with the Christchurch earthquakes.  So I am fully set up to work from home, and currently we are all busy as all get-out.  I work for a quantity surveying firm, and all the QSs are putting in overtime dealing with construction companies shutting down all building sites, and virtually all pipeline estimating projects put on indefinite hold.  Whether they will still be busy this time next month remains to be seen.
So here's a photo of a major arterial route at 6pm rush-hour last Thursday...

(You can get out for a walk, so long as you keep social distance, and don't go far from home.)

Alkia:
wow, that picture is crazy, Wave- I don't think i've EVER seen a major street that empty in a city at rush hour. As for me, school has been cancelled till the end of April, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it closes for the rest of the year. My state isn't at level 4 yet, but has also shut down non-essential businesses, no group meetings, etc.. Taking walks is still allowed as well (although a lot of beaches and trailheads have been shut down because too many stir-crazy people are out taking jaunts at once). I'm honestly actually enjoying quarantine because it allows me to work based on my own schedule and be free from the time-consuming agenda of "normal" school. Anyway, I hope everyone stays safe and doesn't go (too?) crazy from staying inside so much! Be well!!

midwestmutt:
I live in a rural county in NW Illinois in a small village of @850 souls. So far the confirmed cases in my county and adjacent ones are counted in single digits, 6 being the highest count for a single county west of us in Iowa which contains a city of 75,000 that lies 30 miles away from me. Our governor ordered shelter at home until April 7 last week though this differs little from my usual winter activity. I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst because of my age and lung disease. We have no grocery in town but the nearest ones in towns north and south of us have delivery service with a minimum order and transport fee so I have no reason to go further from home than the post office a half block away. So for now I am hunkering down, waiting to see what happens in the next few weeks. Good luck to you all.

Yastreb:
Australia as a whole is on level 2 at the moment with most shops closed; restaurants and cafes are open for the most part for takeaway service only. Supermarkets have put perspex shielding up to protect checkout staff. At checkouts, yellow and black tape crosses mark the two-metre distancing. Panic buying eased off in the last week or so and toilet paper became available again, but only individual rolls; no four-packs. The supermarkets that I use are enforcing either a maximum two of any item rule, or just one of anything (that one's eased that somewhat to allow a bit of discretion).

Public transport is still running, but on trams the seats nearest the driver have been marked as not to be used. With the few people still travelling (at least when I've had to use it), social distancing is easy. I had to pass through the CBD on Friday and while it wasn't a ghost town, seeing only a half-dozen people where scores of hundreds would be was eerie.

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