Life in southern California covid-19 style

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dcsnomo

Moderator
Thought I would post some observations about life in a major metro area at the top end of the covid19 list. Doing this for your info, please refrain from bashing me in your posts.

So, end of January parked the rentals at M&M in Hancock, (thanks guys! )and left on a 2 week roadie to spend 3 months in San Diego. As info, San Diego is America's 8th largest city, between San Antonio and Dallas. It's a real city. Like all major cities, San Diego is made up of neighborhoods, we live in Ocean beach, slightly NW of downtown. It's a vibrant surfing neighborhood with a commercial district.

In CA, we are third on the list of cases, but trending fewer deaths. We have about the same number of cases as Michigan and about half the deaths. Many attribute this to the early lockdown in CA as we are in our third week, ahead of much of the US.

So what's it like? I guess eerie describes it best. The beaches and parks are closed, so no surfing, bike trails, walks along the beach. Everyone is inside. There is very little traffic, the other day we ran an errand on the 8 at rush hour, no traffic, it should have been bumper to bumper. The air is noticeably cleaner and I've been hanging around so cal for 30 years.

There is an increased military presence this week, with helicopters flying over maybe 8 times a day, this is new. There is an increased police presence, but it is not like Marshall law, they just make sure people don't gather. They're friendly, but efficient. For a while the homeless were more noticeable, probably because everyone else was gone. Ocean beach has always had street urchins, but now they appear to be gone, there is a shelter at the sports arena and police homeless vans bringing them in. They decontaminated the sidewalks in downtown ob yesterday, that was eerie to see as I biked past .

The last 2 weeks were just quiet, this week is kinda tense, like we're getting ready for the big one. We are staying put, don't think it's fair to go back to a small community in Wisconsin with limited resources. We have also decided to not travel in May, and will drive back in June.

We've gone from obedient to concerned. We're both over 65, this thing is here. Someone made homemade masks and was giving them out, we will now wear them to the grocery store, we will not be alone. They are kinda cute, bike pattern fabric.

I read your comments, and I realize it is different here than where some of you are. It's real, it's supposed to get worse in 2 weeks. We'll be fine, life ain't bad, but it's eerie.

See you in the winter!
 
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dcsnomo

Moderator
Gas here is about $1 more per gallon than anywhere else. Down to $2.79, which is $1.10 less than when we arrived. Really not driving, had the same tank for 3 weeks. This is the land of delivery, plus there are stores we can walk to.
 
Admin

Admin

Administrator
Staff member
dcsnomo said:
Gas here is about $1 more per gallon than anywhere else. Down to $2.79, which is $1.10 less than when we arrived. Really not driving, had the same tank for 3 weeks. This is the land of delivery, plus there are stores we can walk to.
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We did not drop too much yet either. Was around $2.30 a gallon t weeks ago, now it's around $1.90. We did not run out of T.P., at least in Calumet, so we have that going for us!

Can't wait for the Cali weather to arrive here!
 
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buddah2

Member
Administrator said:
We did not drop too much yet either. Was around $2.30 a gallon t weeks ago, now it's around $1.90. We did not run out of T.P., at least in Calumet, so we have that going for us!

Can't wait for the Cali weather to arrive here!
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Interesting...even Munising ran out of TP...gas this AM was $1.78, an all-time low since we've lived here...FWIW
 
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finn

New member
Sounds about the same in SoCal as here in Tucson. We have been here since early November, and planned on returning to the Copper Country within a week. Just realized our order to forward our mail down here expired on April 1, so a renewal and call to the post office was in order today. We will probably not return until at least June 1.

Our governor here was late to the party issuing lockdown orders, and seems rather incompetent and politically motivated and beholden to special interests. The orders are incomplete, allowing strange exemptions, like hair and beauty salons and golf courses, for example.

Fortunately, most of the larger cities took things in their own hands and shut things dow while the state stumbled and was hog tied with inactivity.

Local stores ran out of TP weeks ago, although there are packages sporadically appearing on the shelves. Meat and staples disappeared for a while, but mow seem plentiful, although variety isn’t there.

Frankly, I have never seen anything like it since I was in communist east Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. The stores had product, for example bins full of apples and potatoes, but no variety. No meat, no carrots, green veggies, no canned goods. Jus bins of one or two items.

Simple medical protective gear, like face masks, thermometers, wipes, and disinfectant, etc are not on the shelves.

We have taken to ordering from Amazon, where some is available, but delivery is three to four weeks out, and the product comes from... you guessed it... China.

The few times we have been out in the last two and a half weeks, looks like most people are staying home. Very light traffic, and the businesses that are open are doing curbside drop off, and not letting you inside.

Construction continues, although I don’t know why, as nobody is going to buy a house until this passes. Painters, lawn service, pool maintenance continues in our little gated community. Most traffic, though seems to be the Amazon, FedEx, and UPS Trucks, a huge increase over normal. Private car traffic is there, but you see cars leave and come back maybe a half hour later. Probably trips to the local market (Fry’s), two miles away.

The streets and sidewalks have a lot of walkers, but they are all practicing social distancing.

Strange times we live in.
 
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chunk06

Active member
I helped a gentleman out selling his house here this winter so he could move to Florida and enjoy the beach and ride his bicycle. got down there 3 weeks ago and beaches and paths are closed. I feel bad for the old guy...
 
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frnash

Active member
finn said:
…Local stores ran out of TP weeks ago, although there are packages sporadically appearing on the shelves. Meat and staples disappeared for a while, but mow seem plentiful, although variety isn’t there.

Frankly, I have never seen anything like it since I was in communist east Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. The stores had product, for example bins full of apples and potatoes, but no variety. No meat, no carrots, green veggies, no canned goods. Jus bins of one or two items. …
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Kinda like the old Phoenix store, Mohawk, MI (ca. 1999):
Phoenix store.JPG
What a classic! The last time I was there, probably in the 1990s(?), it felt a bit like an old "продуктовый" (grocery store) in the Stalin era Soviet Union, with a creaky old wooden floor, very dim lighting — perhaps a half dozen 25 watt light bulbs in the whole place — and overwhelmingly bare shelves bearing just a meager handful of lonesome items, such as a few cans of beans, or whatever. The antique glass front counter had a modest assortment of candy bars and snack items, and that huge, beautiful antique cash register!
 
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