Life During a Pandemic, part 5: The New Normal

I had to go out and get some essentials yesterday.  I had put an online order into Wegmans Thursday night (yesterday was Monday and the soonest I could get the order filled).  My instacart shopper texted me at 9 am.  Some substitutions were made for a couple of items--Domino sugar in lieu of house brand and stuff like that.  They had no ground meat, no paper towels and no toilet paper.  Also I could only get 1 gallon of milk instead of 2.  Interesting process.  I pulled up to the curb and clicked "I'm here" on the app then entered my vehicle info.  A Wegmans employee brought my order to the car.  That was easy and may be a possibility for future shopping.  I was able to get fresh salad greens, blueberries etc. so as long as I can get fresh vegetables and fruit, I'm okay.

Next was Trader Joe's.  I had my shopping paraphernalia on the passenger's seat.  This is the new normal.  Typically I would have my reusable bags there but they are discouraging the use of them.

There was a line --people standing 6 feet or so apart--outside of Trader Joes.  I thought of not going in but changed my mind because I didn't want to go back.  My main item at Trader Joe's is their fresh soy milk.  It's the best stuff for my lattes.  I've yet to find one as good.  The line moved fairly quickly.  They'd let one person in for every one person who came out.  I was impressed with what they did.  When you got to the front of the line, they'd squirt sanitizer in your hands and direct you toward to sanitized carts in the vestibule.  They would wipe them down as people returned them.  The store felt almost empty which was a relief though there were lines at the checkout.  They were hard to see as everyone was standing so far apart.  As luck would have it, they had no soy milk and are out at the warehouse.  I did get everything else and picked up a second gallon of milk.  Cashiers were wearing gloves.  I guess this is all the new normal.

 Last was CVS.  I needed to pick up some prescriptions and could have used the drive through but I also needed vitamins.  The only measure taken there was that there was a table in front of the pick up window at the pharmacy which forced the customer to be 6 feet away from the employee.  I wiped the cart off and kept the wipe in my hand.

Once home, I brought everything in and placed it on the counter, used antibacterial wipes on all packages before putting them away, recycled/trashed the bags then wiped down the counters with Clorox Clean up.  The new normal.

The rest of the day was pretty ho hum.  It was raining so no walking.  I had washed the sheets so I made the bed and did my usual Monday spa day.

4 pm I had to go pick up Ranger's thyroid meds at the vet's.  I had placed the order on the phone in the morning.  Drove up and parked in front, called them and gave them my credit card info and a tech delivered the meds to my car.  The new normal.

I'm starting to plan ahead for purchases.  I have 6 rolls of paper towels left.  No one has them in stock.  I love my Bounty brand but they are impossible to find online as well.  Walmart.com has Brawny in a 12 roll pack so I ordered that and 2 30-can boxes of Fancy Feast.  The paper towels come this week, the cat food arrives by April 10 which is fine.

This morning I woke up to a bunch of people tagging me on Facebook.  It appears that Trader Joe's s now closed for enhanced cleaning due to a "crew member either testing positive for covid-19 or being treated for symptoms. The crew member was last in the store March 23."  Great.  This is a new normal I could do without.  Given the great care the company showed with crowd control, I suppose I really have nothing to worry about even though I didn't wear my bandana or gloves.  But that's easier said than done.  The new normal.