American on the Ground in France - Coronavirus Lockdown - XPOST from QRV Hello Voat, Its been a while since I've done one of these posts. Its been a while since I've had something to say. The last week has been pretty hectic. I'd been expecting us to eventually go under some form of quarantine, especially in the South where I live currently (I moved since my last on the ground post) since we are not that far from Lombardy (North Italy) but I didn't think it would be so soon, or so sudden. Having had my suspicions, I did some stocking up on staples and hard to get items during emergencies (thank you preppers for all your tips and 20 years of hurricane preparedness living in S Florida) the day before Macron announced the initial quarantine measures (shutting down of all non essential public services and cancellation of all gatherings superior to 100 people). I went back the morning after his speech and topped off our reserves. Already canned goods, flour, pasta, rice and other similars were obviously flying off the shelves but were still available. Schools are all shut down by order of the state, so stuck at home with the kids for at least the next few weeks, potentially until late April. Last night Macron annouced increased measures including shutting down of all businesses not related to food or medecine and restricting gatherings to 10 people. Overnight and this morning discussing with the wife what other things we may need, I returned to the supermarket to pick up a few more things I hadn't considered. I knew the store would be chaotic with many things missing from shelves. What actually happened I did not expect. I got to the supermarket only to find that people were lined up outside along the whole length of the building (think the size of a Walmart or Costco). Police all over the place. I thought it was just that store, so I headed to the next supermarket over (in the "ghetto"). Probably 5 times as many cops for a crowd the same size as the one at the other store. I went back to thge first one since I like that store better. I waited in line behind probably 30 people to get into the store, being let in 5 at a time. Took about 20 minutes or so. By the time I got inside, there were no fewer than 50 to 75 people waiting behind me. Inside the store all staple grains and canned goods were gone. No rice, no pasta, no flour (actually I hit up the organic aisle and found some more to top off my supplies, people didn't think to go there) no potatoes, canned and frozen veggies gone, frozen meats mostly gone. No carrots except the expensive ones (that one bit me on the ass, cause it was one of the things I was back for, having hesitated on them the prior trip). Animal food (one of the things I was there for) was mostly gone but not quite yet. TP was raided hard, only brand names left. All the breads were gone, fresh and packaged. Surprisingly, canned meats were still very well stocked. The people in the store all seemed nervous. Watching them, I could see they were all looking to see what other people were stocking up on. Looking in their carts told me that they did not know what to do. Most people were just buying a few days of groceries. No staples. A lot of prepackaged foods. Some people were just stocking on beer and junk food. A lot of them were masked, but not as many as I expected to see. Now, for the info that has come to me. Not going to give my sources or any indication of who they are besides that one comes from a mid grade regional official and the other comes from a hospital director in Paris. Tonight, Macron is going to come on TV and announce tighter quarantine measures. Military enforced curfews. No unjustified travel between cities. Checkpoints. But the big one is this. Paris is to be cut off from the rest of the nation. Travel to and from Paris will be illegal without proper authorization. The other information I have is regarding the infected and response to them. Apparently half of the people dying from Corona are under 40. This is not just a Boomer Remover to quote the meme. The hospitals already know they do not have the capacity to deal with the influx of patients they are expecting and will be using disaster triage protocols. Only people with respiratory distress will be admitted for treatment. The quarantine that is being put in place is to prevent this from spreading too quickly to be dealt with. There is a document being passed around that was read to me. I'm trying to get a hold of it but so far have been unable to. If I manage, I will post it. What wasn't stated anywhere I've seen is that this is likely to cause massive unrest. People being refused medical care for a serious illness will not be well taken by the French people. Nor will the restrictions on travel and commerce. Just look at the riots that happened because social gatherings have been restricted. No one is talking about this yet, but something tells me this whole incident will cause a lot of civil unrest both during and after. With military deployed around the country, it is likely any uprising will be swiftly put down, which will just compound the problem. So this is all I have for you so far. If I find out anything else, or have a significant update to make I will post again. Metanoiac Out