Same here in our area in NYC, big box stores seems well-stocked, with some reduced levels, except when it comes to sanitizers. Those are gone, just a big empty section of shelf.
I was thinking way back in the day my Grandmother could have probably survived forever on the big garden and what she had canned. One outlet for the fridge, a radio she never listened to, and a coal stove. It could have been the endtimes and she would never know unless someone stopped by to mention it. Times sure have changed.
I live countryside in MA and went to one of our local big box stores on Saturday to get a few items and the shelves were mostly bare. There was virtually nothing available to buy and the store was packed with people waiting to grab anything as it was being re-stocked. I know a lot of the staff there and they have added additional staff and just can’t keep up.
What makes this particularly weird is that there is not 1 Coronavirus case within 65 miles of where I live and work. So yes, no logic I can figure out around here.
No need to go without spaghetti or sandwiches. If you have yeast, flour, salt, and water, you can make bread that’s better than most you get in a supermarket. There are plenty of basic recipes online and in basics books like Joy of Cooking, and you can produce a delicious pan loaf in as little as two or three hours (the hands-on time is about 15 minutes altogether). You may never go back to supermarket bread.
Omit the yeast and replace the water with eggs and you have fresh pasta (or dry it for later). Although if you don’t have a mechanical cutter, it’ll be easier to cut fettuccine-width for your spaghetti dinner.
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In the words of comic Rita Rudner, if you mix water and flour you have glue, add milk eggs and sugar and you have cake…Where does the glue go?
Sorry folks, my mind wonders sometimes.
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Unfortunately, with a paucity of testing in the US, it’s highly unlikely that there are no cases in your neighborhood. Many sources state that taking the reported cases and multiply it by 8 or 10 to get a more realistic incidence.
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10*0=0 I can live with that 
The flip side would be that if we don’t hear of an inordinate number people dying left and right, but many have the virus (granted, no test to prove it) I’d say it means the virus isn’t as deadly as it is depicted by MSM.
I hope you’re right but fear you’re not. It appears that we’re following the statistical curve of Italy instead of South Korea or Singapore. Italy’s health care infrastructure is overwhelmed and one Italian doctor’s twitter message said that people with comorbidities (like diabetes) are being eliminated from consideration for limited resources like ventilators, no matter their age. They are being left to die. There’s simply not enough resources to help everyone who needs it.
Italy has reported 368 deaths in the last 24 hours; the day before they reported about 250. That’s a frightening and tragic acceleration.
I realize you may not share my perceptions and believe people like me are over-reacting or are simply interested in inflicting political harm on the current administration. That doesn’t change the facts.
It looks like we may know a lot more in the next 10 days or so. I hope that the huge number of event and school cancellations provide us with enough aggregate social distancing to flatten the curve.
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People might not access to this link - it is behind the NY Times’ paywall - but it has a great interactive component showing estimated effects based on how soon, or late, policies are implemented:
The concluding three paragraphs from the linked above NY Times opinion piece caught my eye.
“Early in the epidemic it is very difficult to muster the political will to implement costly, disruptive disease-control policies,” Dr. Fisman said. “What we are hoping to show here is that the calculus is one of short-term pain for long-term gain: Early, aggressive social distancing can substantially reduce the toll of epidemics, which can include the near collapse of health care systems, as we’re currently seeing in Italy.”
We’ll be honest: We worried that the clean lines in the graphics here [a graphic tool featured in this piece] risk suggesting a false precision. None of us know what lies ahead. But the wise uncertainty of epidemiologists is preferable to the confident bluster of television blowhards. The one thing we can be confident of is that enormous risks lie ahead — including a huge loss of life — if we don’t take aggressive action.
We have already squandered weeks in which the president scoffed at the coronavirus and tried to talk up the stock markets, but it’s not too late: We can still change the course of this epidemic.
Winston Churchill once said of Americans something along the lines that Americans will eventually find the right solution once they’ve tried all the wrong ones. There’s nothing I would like more than to see us pull a rabbit out of the hat, but I have a hard time mustering that much optimism.
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I don’t think anything of the sort. Please don’t presume. 
To your point:
hehehehe, @beacher. I just need to build a stove and I’m all set. Thanks for the reminder. I have built outdoor stoves before. Never good enough for making bread, but maybe I can up my game.
P.S. my work is finally breaking down. We may be working from home this week.
Wish mine would.
Perhaps the clearest illustration of Dave44’s correct perception is the footage I viewed of scores of shoppers inside and outside of such stores wearing masks (not type N95, mind you) but not gloves: A significant pathway of COVID-19 expanding its expansion is its ability to remain alive and viable outside of the biophysical body in the range of 24 hours to 2~3 days, depending largely on the material on which it lands. This means that one infected person (including those who are symptom-free) using a cart without wearing gloves can infect a very large number of other gloves-free shoppers, the number being a function of the time of day that the infected person began shopping. The only step to attempt preventing this is to wipe down every card after use (and every full basket as soon as it arrives at checkout) with disinfectant. Moreover, checkout staff must continually do the same to their hands, even on the gloves they should be wearing gloves. (In addition, exposed skin should be at the highest degree possible.)
Extreme? Only if one’s goal is NOT to minimize the probability of COVID-19 infection, illness and potential demise.
I’m unconvinced of the value of gloves, vs disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer and not touching your face. People can use gloves to transfer viruses easily enough after all. I’m now staying home exclusively, but even when we get deliveries, I’m careful to not touch my face while I deal with packaging that could be contaminated, toss that out, then wash/sanitize my hands. In grocery stores previously, we used wipes on a cart, avoided face touching, and sanitized hands after leaving the store and washed once home. I think there are some contexts when gloves may make more sense as easier, but they shouldn’t be particularly essential if good hygiene is otherwise practiced
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I imagine they are afraid but ignorant, or their fear overwhelms reason. It is panic.
People that are panicking, or even neurotic, often behave irrationally, even to themselves. They can’t help it. Alternatively, the less neurotic, seemingly rationally, can be complacent, dismissing fears.
That can be a greater issue…
Of note, regarding what happens over time, pointing to a future problem of complacency:
The research suggests, in effect, that if you let people decide for themselves how to react, you’ll get two problematic trends: a majority taking progressively more risks with time, and a small minority exhibiting panic-like behaviors, buying out supplies.
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@JamesIgoe – Interesting article, James. I concede that the long-haul nature of this threat could encourage me, as the weeks go by, to relax my aggressive safety habits I use now. Knowing about this human propensity can hopefully strengthen my longer-term resolve.
I think T1D itself has been a good training ground for me to hone this ability. Over time, 36 years for me, I have become more aggressive with my blood glucose management and discipline with food.
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I have a tendency to recommit my efforts and skills with things like anti-hibernation during winter, or reviewing learning material even though I’ve been doing something for years. Habits can degrade over time, and I usually feel it necessary to refocus my efforts every once in awhile…