VEGAS IS DARK, BABY!
I live in Sin City, NV, have since 1991. And let me tell you, NEVER before have I've not seen the line of Las Vegas Blvd from Tropicana to DownTown before Bonanza. It was chilling to drive down the Strip, realizing the reason why it was like a dark tunnel is because when the Casinos were lit up, they never had to put in street lights. I have family who has been laid off just before our governor and mayor declared quarantine and restrictions, shutting down a number of businesses.
I am a caregiver to my 77 year old father, who has suffered from seizures and a triple bypass in 2018 for congestive heart failure. I'm asthmatic to boot. Yeah, not taking the chance. I made our masks in March, mostly so people didn't attack me for having allergies.
Upside is the fact I'm an Army Brat who was raised overseas when AFN had no commercials, and you better stock up, because if the commissary was out, you lived without it. My mother had a full horizontal freezer, and had about a year's worth of ground beef, turkeys, chickens, fish, you name it, she had it in there. We currently have an average size freezer, upright, but the most I have is 3 months in there for protein, and my vegetable preps to help putting meals together faster.
Dry goods are any where from six months to a year, depending how much we consume of it. Coffee is the topper, yes, a year of bean juice.
My father bickered when I ordered our first EVER web cam so we can do at home tele-visits with the doctors. We need it, plus the headset, so yah. Waiting for it to show up, if it ever does. They are a pain to find right now. 
Emotionally, I can feel the tension, the panic, and it makes going out shopping and to our appointments really challenging. People here are more rude than before. We have some folks who try to bully their way ahead of the line. I've been impressed with how fast the staff jumps on their case, and are LOUD. It is like seeing someone scold a five year old. blinks
Don't even get me started about how the Federal Government SHUT DOWN THE BASE without notice. We couldn't get my father's much needed medication refills. And the stress from the doctors with shifting where the scripts are to now be filled on the private market. Wheee!
The upside to where we live, we are in a 55+ community, and the people here are friendly and doing what they can to socially check on one another, even at a distance. My neighbor down the road a bit here fixed my computer when I lost the old hard drive and putting in a new one didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped.
The staff at our grocery, food joints, and more, I do my best to tell them 'thank you for being here.' And how much I appreciate them. It has been wonderful to see how this helps those I say this to, and even makes them talk about how their day has been, blowing off the much needed steam.
We have our dogs, I have my fish, frogs, and tarantulas, food for them, so I'm thankful we are fairly set.
Even with being isolated, which I'm used to after 10 years of care-giving, we have so many ways to keep in contact which didn't exist back when houses were locked down due to TB. We have videos to teach us how to cook, how to sew, and more. Now is the time to explore what you never had time to do before.
For those who are dealing with a loved one diagnosed and struggling with the virus, I'm amazed at how people are coming up with ways to show their love and support when they can't be there to see them. The creative means of funerals to pay respect & love. We all need to do more, and many are answering the call as they face it. I grew up with setting up an altar for the loved one who's passed. Even now, my mother has her altar spot where dad can see her and visit her in the house. We lost her to COPD in 2013, which is where you lose your lungs due to the cellular damage and fluid flooding thanks to smoking on her part for 30 + years. In my container garden, I have planted a number of roses, so dad can clip roses for her if he wishes.
We are dealing with a conundrum of emotions right now. If Life is messy, this is a full fiasco. But as one person used to say at one of my past places of employment, 'When life throws you lemons, even the rotten ones, make a lemon gun and send them back.' My grandmother talked about making lemonade, lemon meringue, any lemon based dessert. For me, with both my father's and my limitations, I go by "Learn to work with the new normal and own it."
Whatever your mantra is, own it, say it to yourself in the mirror, and remember, we are all scared, and yet we are not alone in this. One day at a time. This is all any person can do. One day at a time.
Big HUGS!
