Here in Montana the quarantine order went into effect 28 March. To date Montana has 319 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Beaverhead county has 1 confirmed case. The city of Dillon also has one of the major hospitals for area, Barrett Hospital. One of Montana’s six COVID-19 related deaths occurred there. Gallatin County, where the Bozeman metro is located, has the majority of cases with 119.
Based on traffic in town a good portions of business are still in operation. Walking through town most of the retail venues are either closed or open but only handling cash (or credit) and carry transactions. Murdocks, ACE, Safeway and Rocky Mountain Supply are all open with normal business hours, I believe Safeway has senior hours but I do not know when they are. Montana Youth Challenge sent cadets home at the end of March.
For livestock operations not much has changed. It is calving season so everyone was already pretty busy. Once the bars close there is really no reason to go to town. Several livestock producers brag about how many days it has been since they have been in town. At least one ranch is actively restricting access to anyone but essential ranch personnel. None of which is all that unique. Ranchers and cowboys tend to be independent and prefer isolation. Livestock Auction Barn still holds weekly sales but no longer offers lunch prior to the sale.
Here at home things are not terribly different. Machiko was off work for a week because someone had been around someone who had been around someone who might have been exposed. No one developed flu symptoms and Machiko is back at work at a feed lot operation where there is no contact with the public and not even very much contact with each other. She takes Clorox Disinfectant wipes and a cloth mask to work.
For the week that Machiko was home I spent the days binge watching Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 1 through 6 are available on Amazon Prime. I am up to about halfway through season 4. I discovered that there is a new show coming that stars Christopher Meloni, reprising his role as Elliott Stabler. I am fairly excited about this. I stopped watching SVU when Stabler left. Without Stabler, the show just wasn’t the same.
With regard to COVID-19 and the nation’s reaction to it, I think it is going to be interesting to see the aftermath. Quarantine orders have brought the economy to a halt. For the moment unemployment is at a record high and rising while the stock market is at a record low and falling. The difference this time is that it is induced and the cause will have a fairly sudden and abrupt end. At which point pent up demand will take over, theoretically driving the economy back to where it was before the COVID-19 lock downs and possibly higher (yes, I am fairly optimistic). There are already discussions on Twitter and Facebook about parties to celebrate the end of a national quarantine. The travel and hospitality industries will surely capitalize on the celebratory fervor seeking to stretch it out as long as possible. That is not to say that there will not be some losers. Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler in Mountain View, CA has closed. One of my favorite places in NorCal. I am sure there are more businesses, especially in the hospitality/restaurant industry that have not been able to adjust. Hopefully, probably, those owners and staff will find new opportunity on the other side of COVID-19.
Lastly, while I do not think that we really had any alternative but to treat (react to) this pandemic the way we have, I think the aftermath will be interesting. Seasnonal flu infected 39 to 55 million Americans this flu season, with 400 to 730 thousand hospital visits and 24 to 63 thousand deaths (source: CDC). As of this writing, there are 374,329 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and thus far 12,064 deaths (source: CDC). Due to inadequate testing it is certain that the number of infections is higher, probably significantly higher. While there are some questions about the accuracy of the death count it is probably a lot more accurate. So, what if it is determined that we have shut down the nation’s economy for something that kills half as many as the seasonal flu kills every year?