8 June 2020 — 1353 mdt

Is life getting back to normal? It may seem so,
but there are pre and post coronavirus differences

Shopping every two weeks, one does not experience gradual day-to-day change. Instead, differences in the availability of merchandise and the behavior of homo sapiens over a two-week interval become strikingly clear.

At Costco in mid-May, perhaps a third of the customers wore face masks. Hand sanitizer was not available, nor were disinfecting wipes. A few days ago, almost everyone at Costco wore masks, maintained their distance, and hand sanitizer was available. Disinfecting wipes were not. Kirtland nitrile exam gloves were not on the shelves.

Two brands of sanitizer were available, one 70 percent ethanol, the other 80 percent, at reasonable prices. Both were contaminated with aloe, which makes the sanitizer slimy and slows the drying time. At Walmart, 8-ounce bottles of sanitizer, 65 percent ethanol, sell for four dollars. Expensive, but I bought one anyway. The stores are rationing scarce products to one per customer.

I doubt we’ll see Purcell on the shelves anytime soon. It seems in plentiful supply at medical facilities.

After Costo, entering Lowes, I experienced a different culture. Most customers were barefaced. Many gave me the stink eye, apparently concluding, correctly, that I would not be voting for Donald Trump. The absence of masks was no surprise. A lot of white men not educated beyond high school, the cohort most likely to support Trump, buy supplies and tools at Lowes and similar stores.

That’s also true for auto parts stores. Earlier that day, I bought a new starting battery at O’Reilly Auto Parts. The customers and staff were observing social distancing, but I was the only one in the store wearing a mask. Again, no surprise. Auto parts stores are where white working class men buy and sell.

Products that were scarce in April — isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, bumwad, paper towels, sometimes disinfecting wipes — are back on many shelves. Walmart has half-liter bottles of isopropyl. Walgreens has liter bottles of peroxide.

Some meats remain hard to find. At Costco, the house brand of spiral sliced ham was available, as were small Black Forest hams, but not the excellent applewood smoked hams I favor. Sometimes frozen high quality 85–15 ground beef cannot be found.

Clinical thermometers are scarce, as are surgical and N95 face masks, and devices such as oximeters. I cannot find an oximeter in Kalispell. When I ordered one from Walmart, the ordering page promised delivery in two days. The confirmation email predicted delivery on 11 August. I canceled.

Masks, gloves, devices, and high alcohol content sanitizers, should become available in the coming months as production ramps up and more manufacturers produce the products.

Overall, I’m encouraged by the trends. We need to do better with face masks, both producing them and wearing them, but with education I think the numbers of the barefaced will decline.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus remains as deadly as ever. No vaccine prevents it. No medicine cures it. Protect yourselves and others. Maintain your distance. Wear your mask.