@michele-b, I am so sorry. You have written such a harrowing account, and it shows so clearly how the increased burden of anxiety and limited resources are buffeting mothers-to-be, their families, and healthcare professionals. You must have been beside yourselves. I hope that your family member, baby and family are recovering and doing well.
A family member gave birth in late January, and looking back we all feel that sigh of relief that hospitals were still operating normally then and things went smoothly. Anecdotally, these exact thoughts (about the pandemic) crossed her mind briefly, and I wonder what obstetricians and midwives were feeling and thinking at that time too. Did it factor into any decision making, deliberately or subconsciously? I have not heard of such surges but perhaps these exact studies are being done. Some have suggested that we should expect pandemics more frequently in the future, in part due to climate change. It would therefore be so important to know.
Thank you for your kind words, @michele-b!
@coyote I remember the day they told us to wear masks! I was so pissed! I was angry because there were not enough masks for the hospital workers much less us. Trump blew this whole thing so badly! Obama saved us from Ebola, by sending a team into Africa! We had a Pandemic Team with supplies. It’s just so hard to believe we have allowed this man to wreck us so badly! It’s so hard to believe that people can’t cooperate on healthcare issues. Depending on how they adjust to our new reality, will determine our future. I don’t think they have a choice. I’m old enough to remember children in my neighborhood that came down with polio. Jonas Salk gave us the polio vaccine. Can you even imagine a company or person giving a gift like that today? That just shows you the selfish mindset of people today. Perhaps that is the lesson of Covid-19.
On the one hand I'm thankful children will be released from ICE detention, on the other hand, I am frightened for them. Human trafficking is a big problem. May these children be well cared for and protected. May family members and caring individuals get to them first.
So after typing the above paragraph I looked it up, and found this CNN article with the following:
Regardless, I believe we need to pray and petition to ensure every child ends up in a good place and is not hurt or taken advantage of.
Can anyone tell me the actual cause of this new shortage?
I am now seeing these signs or similar appear in grocery stores and at least one drive thru window. Is it germ related? Or something else. Seems really odd. Why not a bill shortage too then?
Attention Customers
The U.S. is currently experiencing a coin shortage.
Please use correct change or other form of tender if possible.
We apologize for any the inconvenience this may cause.
@lovendures I can't explain it, unfortunately, but I saw something about this on Twitter earlier this evening, and I am still puzzled by it. It makes no sense to me that this is even an issue, much less that it would would be national news. The sudden emergence of this as a problem and the relatively high profile coverage seems a bit fishy to me.
I know. One of the things I have read is that stores have been closed so coins haven't been circulating and once things open back up, things will circulate better. That makes no sense. NO business sits on coins or any money. Even if banks are closed, it wasn't months worth of coins sitting in a store somewhere. A few days at most.
Mints had to shut down temporarily and are playing catch-up:
https://krcgtv.com/news/local/federal-reserve-warns-of-temporary-coin-shortage
Hmm. That still doesn't make sense to me though I am not fully aware of how these things work. If money hasn't been changing hands much for months, what happened to the old coins? Would a partial shutdown create NO coins for businesses when many haven't even been opened for 2 months or so? Stores don't seem to really have any on hand. But again, I don't really understand this system.
@grace Okay, the shutdown sort of makes sense, but coins last a long time, and as @lovendures says, if money isn't changing hands as much lately, where would the coins go? Sure, there's some attrition due to age, I can't imagine it would cause a shortage. *shrug* I'm sure it's not a big conspiracy thing, but it is curious.