The face masks I ordered a month ago, have just arrived from China. So I sprayed the outside of the packaging with alcohol - probably not necessary because during the long journey from China to here, germs would not have survived.
I also sprayed the post, although I didn't bother spraying the junk mail - straight in the bin. I'm going to get through a lot of alcohol! It's just as well I bought a few gallons several years ago.
We checked the freezer, and I noticed that we had some freeze-packs stored. Those are things that you freeze, then put in a cold-box to help keep the contents cool. But since we won't be going on picnics for a while, there's no point in keeping them in the freezer. So we're going to use that extra space to freeze stuff.
I recommended the UV lamp to daughter.1, and she's going to get one. It'll be a nice way to kill the virus on things coming in, 15 minutes zap of UV, and 99% of bacteria and viruses are killed.
On the broader front - pubs, clubs, restaurants and gyms are closed. Schools are closed. More people are taking this seriously - I hope. Italy has 4032 dead, and we're a couple of weeks behind them.
On the economic front - Our government is announcing lots of measures. The Magic Money Tree is bearing substantial fruit at last. Where is the money coming from? Not from taxation, they've just announced a VAT holiday. No - it'll come from the creation of money. And that isn't anything as obvious as printing notes, it's done by the process of "Let there be money" which governments can do. But there's a cost.
If you double the amount of money in circulation, then after a lag (of a year of two) you double prices. We can expect a LOT of inflation; I haven't calculated how much yet, it depends on how much money is created, and it's still in a state of flux.
I'm certainly not suggesting that this is a bad idea. This is an extraordinary emergency, and we have to take extraordinary measures to deal with it. But we should recognise the consequences.
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