Don't bother going into Kroger or Wal-Mart here in Little Rock. There's still plenty of panic buying and hoarding going on. I am baffled at their failure to limit the number of "essential" items that someone can buy. All paper goods, most cleaning supplies, eggs, all forms of milk, canned goods, pasta, vitamins and supplements and OTC medications--rows and rows of empty shelves. However, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's still seem to have a decent supply of food, particularly fresh food. Need deodorant? Too bad. Need a nice head of cauliflower? Trader Joe's has big ones for a decent price.
It's interesting how the word "essential" has taken on new, even sinister meanings. In its unavailability, toilet paper has become essential. My job is essential. I am the only person along my street that still goes to work every day. No teleworking is possible for people who do lab-based work. My schedule hasn't really changed all that much. It feels strange to be going through normal daily routines when nobody else around me is doing the same.
At the lab, the number of necropsy and tissue biopsy submissions has dropped off quite a bit. We didn't have a single new small animal necropsy case last week. Still plenty of goats, chickens, and calves, though. Veterinary clinics are generally deemed essential businesses (there's that word again) even in areas where there are more stringent business closure actions than here in Arkansas. But they have to limit the procedures they can perform either by decree or because they have limited PPE and have to ration it out for the critical life-saving procedures.
We wear N95 masks when we do necropsies. We now have to ration them by wearing them for several days in a row. Even so, we are at much lower risk than human health care providers who have to re-use their masks. Sure, our exposure risks include some bacteria and viruses that can kill us, but those cases are rare, relatively predicable (we can identify those high-risk cases early), and we can further mitigate risks by moving the necropsies into a fume hood (if it's a small animal). Nurses and doctors are definitively being exposed to a virus that can kill them--their risk skyrockets with increased exposure. It's a bad situation for them.
Our lab has donated swabs and masks to the Department of Health. And it looks like some state employees who have experience in running PCRs are going to be seconded to the Department of Health. Their regular job may not be essential but their knowledge is.
Stay home if you can. Wear gloves when you have to buy gas. Limit your trips into the grocery store--and wear gloves in there too. No nitrile exam gloves? Use winter gloves and wash them. Alcohol in a spray bottle makes an excellent, clothing-friendly disinfectant. Don't panic. Check on your neighbors. Be polite.
