I went to bed extra tired last night. We had a rough day at work yesterday. We filled and sold about 125% our usual number of scripts. Meanwhile, our boss was giving us our annual evaluations. So, for the early part of the afternoon (when we take our lunches) we were generally at least one technician short and, at one point, we were out of pharmacists because our boss was evaluating us while the other pharmacist was at lunch. This, of course, required us to close the pharmacy down, so we lost a half hour of prescription filling time. I was really shocked when we reached the end of the day and I saw how much work we actually got done.
I walked around the sales floor on my way out after work and I noticed how low we were on things like Clorox wipes, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, beans, rice, pasta, ramen noodles, water, etc.
And, yes, I believe these two things have something in common. That something is the coronavirus.
I fully expect to still be here after the coronavirus has run its course. However, I have asthma and I work in a retail pharmacy. These are two things that will leave me at elevated risk during this whole event. I don’t know if it’s a crisis yet. Or even if it will ever be a crisis. But it’s definitely an event.
For those who just came in, I live in San Antonio, home to Lackland Air Force Base, which is where the coronavirus patients are being sent to be quarantined. And yesterday we found out that one of the quarantine patients left quarantine, checked into a hotel, and went to the mall. She’s back in quarantine by now, but people are certainly worried about the quarantine being here in our city. This is making people panic about cleanliness and about food supplies and, I think, is driving them to doctors for symptoms that they might otherwise just live with.
My dad and son are worried as well, just on general principle. They’ve asked me to lay in a supply of food to get us through two weeks just in case we do come down with it, so that we don’t have to go out for provisions. I don’t even know if we’ll get the virus, much less if it’ll be that bad, but I’ve taken the food supply request as a challenge. Two weeks worth of food for three people at 2,000 calories per day is 84,000 calories. Last time I added it up I was at 22,000 calories and that was several pouches of tuna (if I survive coronavirus, I’ll die of mercury poisoning), little plastic tubs of applesauce, a can of salted almonds, a box of granola bars, a bag of frozen green beans, and a bag of cheesesticks ago. I really need to get a plastic tub to put it all in so that I can keep track of what I have.
Making things worse is that I’m trying to stick to things that Alex and I would eat anyhow, so that if we never get coronavirus or if it’s really mild or if the whole thing blows over without us getting it at all, it won’t go to waste. This is why I haven’t boarded the beans and rice train. I love beans and rice, but Alex isn’t really that much of a fan, so they’d probably go bad before we ate them.
I’m also trying to practice good hand hygiene. Every time someone gives me cash, whenever I get away from the register, I go back and wash my hands — fronts of hands, backs of hands, wringing my hands together, then rinsing under hot water. Then I go and put some hand lotion on, because I don’t want a bunch of broken skin from where I’ve been overdoing on the washing. Alex now has a job where he runs a register, as well, and he’s going to start doing the same. My dad’s 88 and we have to protect him as much as possible.
I’ll be posting more as things happen. Or, you know, not.
How do I follow this up with a Gratuitous Amazon Link? Freeze-dried Food Supply? On-topic, but no. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, Brazilian Blossoms Scent? Ooh! I’m going to bookmark that just in case I decide to go whole-hog on the OCD thing. Let’s stick with books and start a new series. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1: Squirrel Power , by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl has run its course, and I’m putting off buying that last volume because if I never read it, the series never has to end, right? I know that isn’t how it works, and I will buy it. Someday. Probably not for a while, though. I promise to buy it if I come down with coronavirus, though, for reasons that I go into above (my job, my asthma) just so I know how it ends.