What Does A Quarantine Due To Coronavirus Mean For Truckers?

I do remember Y2K. That was much hype, little delivery, no proof. Scary unknown kinda thing. Went away in about 10 minutes once the clocks rolled over and nothing happened. lol.

I know that right now, Covid-19 seems small and unimportant in the larger scheme.

I'm a vet. I know all about the 22 a day. I work actively to help lower that number. It's a travesty. 800-273-8255 Veteran Crisis Line. Always open, always available. Please pass it on to your Vet friends.

I love the isolation of trucking. I got to do my first week of night driving this week. Holy smokes, I have died and gone to heaven. I got to reassure my family tonight that in 2500+ miles last week, I saw 4 people for more than 10 seconds. They think I'm weird when I say "I love this!"

I also have a degree in public health. I also spent 20 yrs active duty in some real **** hole countries preventing outbreaks of flu, foot rot, common colds, MERS, malaria, anthrax, yellow fever, Mediterranean fever, gonorrhea, syphilis, the clap, etc among my Marines and Sailors.

I'll tell you this and you can take it to the bank . . . things ARE going to get worse before they get better.

This week saw a tripling of the number infected outside of china. This. Week.

On the financial front, trucking stocks are getting crushed along with everyone else. Down an average of 25%. Heartland, KnightSwift, Schnider, Werner, etc. The Dow Jones was down 2300 just today. Hope everyone has moved their 401k's into govt bonds. Only makes about .5% a month but that's better than the alternative. Financially, Covid-19 is a stone cold killer.

I hope you are all right and this turns out to be. . . uneventful. Science, economics . . . they are telling a different story.

Stay frosty, my friends. It might be a bumpy ride. Or not. Maybe this will all go away. Please God . . . make it go away. People are suffering a lot in real life. I'd love to see this end. I hope it doesn't effect anyone here.

I'm young enough right now that this is basically the first thing that's happened in my life I can actually comprehend and be affected by and I'm starting to get a little nervy. I'm not at risk from the virus itself but the economic impact it's having and seems likely to continue to have has me worried about my footing a little further down the road.

I'm young enough right now that this is basically the first thing that's happened in my life I can actually comprehend and be affected by and I'm starting to get a little nervy. I'm not at risk from the virus itself but the economic impact it's having and seems likely to continue to have has me worried about my footing a little further down the road.

It's cliche, but..."Danger is real, fear is not."

There are and will be pragmatics to contend with and plan for.

There always have been, throughout human history.

1960: we are all gonna die when the russians bomb us

1970: we are all gonna die when communism spreads

1980: we are all gonna die from satanists taking over the country...play records backwards to reveal satan's messages....and we are all gonna die from the Russians still

1985: we are all gonna die from AIDS... we are all gonna become addicted to crack.... Halley's comet is gonna kill us all. Nostradamus predicted a comet would kill us.

1989 the san francisco quake proves the big one is coming.. we are all gonna die.

1990 we are all gonna die from hairspray eroding the ozone layer

1991 the Northridge quake proves the big one is coming.. we are all gonna die

1993 we are all gonna die from religious cults and white supremists hording weapons

1995 we are all gonna die from cancer due to cell phones

1999 buy gold or we are all gonna die poor from Y2K

2001 we are all gonna die from anthrax and dirty bombs so take cipro and iodine tablets

2001 to 2010 we are all gonna die from vaccines causing autism and other problems... Florida is gonna be flooded and California is going to drop into the ocean after an earthquake.... swine flu, bird flu, west nile virus, lymes diease and lupus will kill us all

2012 we are all gonna die because the Mayan calendar says so

2014 Bipolar & SAD is on the rise... we are all gonna die crazy

2015 sleep apnea is on the rise...we are all gonna die in our sleep.

2016 we are all gonna die poor cause Trump won

2018 we are all gonna die because of mass shootings

2020... we are all gonna die from coronavirus

ME: i have been expecting to die since the day i was born. i thought anthrax, a bomb, or a workplace shooter would get me at the post office. Im still here.

Screw corona virus. If i die, i die. But at least i lived every day to the fullest, in the open and not under a blanket of panic and fear.

take vitamin C... cook on the truck.. wear gloves... use clorox or lysol... use common sense.

Pa Governor ordered everything public gathering spot closed for 2 weeks in my county (gtowns) including schools. So i need to goto next county dmv to take of permit testing.

There are a few private driving schools that are effected with this.

With the inference of the original post - a QUARANTINE might just affect us.

Think "I am Legend" (Will Smith Zombie/Virus flick). What if DumBlasio decides to close the bridges and tunnels (don't laugh, they're just dumb enough).

Re-routes into the NE. DC closes down (love to bring my zombie-hunter .300 Blackout MCX out there), they shutdown 395, or maybe even 495 (like they're not parking lots already). Or Atlanta goes bat-guano and shuts down 75/85.

Don't laugh - it could happen.

This could screw the industry up even worse.

I'm already hearing from my longshoremen brothers down at Port Everglades and Miami that things are getting weird down there (I'm a member of ILA 1526 - yeah, yet another piece of plastic in my wallet I never use, but can always fall back on). Longshoremen move the cargo off the ships AND deal with the CRUISE INDUSTRY (baggage and food/freight coming on/off ships).

Now - I get that this is mainly hype/hysteria/POLITICS (where the Bad Orange Man is at fault in everything - he could CURE COVID-19 and folks would say he's screwing them out of the days off from work). Bill Mahr and others were praying for a recession to help unseat DJT (like what moron PRAYS for the country to suffer) - and we're looking at one if this continues at the "fever pitch" (see what I did there) that the media is jacking it up to be.

IT'S THE FLU DAMMIT!

Yes, it's HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS. Yes, it has a LATENT CONTAGIOUS PERIOD. Yes, it's LOWER RESPIRATORY (as opposed to most others that are upper, so there's a greater chance of pneumonia). Yes, PEOPLE ARE DYING FROM IT - but statistically, no more than any other but that goes around - it's just happening in a faster time-frame because of the faster/higher communicability of it.

If the HYSTERIA CONTINUES (or gets worse, as it seems to be) - this can & will create logistical nightmares FOR US.

Reefer folks are (as usual) going to be pretty safe - people ALWAYS HAVE TO EAT. But there are still going to be issues (factories closing due to illnesses - "out of an abundance of caution" type crapola).

Funny how this has gone from a "WTF are you worried about", to a full-blown panic (especially with the WHO Pandemic declaration), to ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE in 4 days. All sports cancelled (totally don't care myself, don't follow sports, and the Dolphins will ALWAYS SUCK). Towns on lockdown.

I'm seeing it at home in my IT Business. I've spent the last week, getting all the employees at my primary law office client (68 of them) setup for remote/work access. If someone gets SICK with COVID, they're going to shut the office down. My backup vendor (the guy who services my clients if something happens to me), is having all his employees work from home (I'd rather lose 10-15% productivity by having them remote in, than 40-50% by having 1/2 the office sick).

The issue is less for the 85% that won't even barely get sick from it - than the 15% that will (and that the 85% will BRING IT HOME TO INFECT others), and the 5% of those that are already immune compromised, elderly or young that will have severe/fatal outcomes.

Client at the law office - "I'm not worried about catching it myself, but I am worried about giving it to my 85 year old mother that lives with us". THIS CAUSES PANIC. Justifiable or not.

While the ACTUAL EFFECTS of this years FLU (it's THE FLU DAMMIT), are not as (statistically) horrible as they're being made out to be - this IS GOING TO AFFECT US AS DRIVERS. The mere "trickle down effect" in production chains, is going to slow us down. Panicked local governments shutting down access through their locales - is going to slow us down.

While the PANIC IS A JOKE - the effects it's having THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY - IS NOT. And it's going to GET WORSE - NOT BETTER for the immediate future.

Side Note: like, what's with the TOILET PAPER THING? Diarrhea isn't a symptom/effect. Why is everyone buying cases of toilet paper? And why won't WALMART OPEN ANOTHER DAMN REGISTER ALREADY? I mean - REALLY?

I normally don't carry my "get home bag" in my truck (POV), but it's in there now (med kit, spare weapon, backup mags, etc.). People are REALLY GETTING NUTS OUT THERE.

I mean - the NATIONAL GUARD is out in New Rochelle, NY - (to disinfect and deliver meals in a 1 mile "hot zone"). How long until someone tries to break out of a hot-zone and gets crazy enough to get themselves SHOT AT?

I am the last person to be paranoid or prone to hysteria. But I AM CONCERNED about those that ARE. Hysterical people do STUPID FECES.

Y'all be EXTRA SAFE out there. Regardless of whether or not WE ARE APPRECIATED OR RECOGNIZED - THE COUNTRY DEPENDS ON US TO GET THEIR STUFF WHERE IT NEEDS TO GO.

Rick

Some interesting opinions here. Life goes on or it doesn't. Panic accomplishes nothing positive however, it is natural to worry a bit.

Prime has postponed all awards ceremonies and our weekly safety meetings in the terminal where we all have free breakfast with the owner.

They gave us a list of instructions and symptoms.

MATS just canceled with no new date.

A bigger thing I think about are Zombies.

lol, Me too. I was thinking - "thank goodness the Zombie Apocalypse is fiction, because I think the zombies would definitely win. Half of us would be running around claiming its not so bad and the other half run around screaming and dying of anxiety"

Looking over our routes today it appears Kansas City is going crazy. Several grocery stores down there ordered close to 50k pounds of product. It could also be starting to build up for Easter but that's an absurd amount. Most stores there typically get half that amount.

We met with our realtor today to look at houses. He said the only difference he's seen is that business hasn't started booming yet like it usually does at this time. When I was talking to the bank a few days ago they said if I got locked in my interest rate would be around 3.07%! Apparently it's a great time to buy!

I was also called from the VP of our company regarding my vacation time coming up. I took a day off at the end of the month to take the family to Sesame Street Live (which I'm guessing will be postponed) and he wanted to make sure I wasnt leaving the country. Everywhere I go I hear people talk about how it's all hype and that it's basically the flu. It makes me wonder who is buying into the media's panic to grab up all the toilet paper and sanitizer.