Here is Mr. TroutBend's account of this morning's shopping expedition:

"For the most part, things have worsened at the food stores. About 70% of the customers are wearing masks, hardly any employees. Still no hand sanitizer stations. The line at Sam's was around the north side almost to the rear corner of the building. I walked over to Walmart where the line wasn't as long and got inside after a 10 minute wait. They're letting people in a few at a time.

If you wanted paper items you were directed to an associate who was guarding an aisle that was rapidly running out of product. I found a lot of stuff I wanted, some items that I usually would buy at Sam's, not knowing if I would find them there or even get in the door. Hardly any ice cream left, just the expensive stuff or the really weird flavors. Even the spice aisle was badly depleted - I managed to find a container of cinnamon hiding way back in the shadows.

When I got out of there Sam's had been open for 35 minutes and the line was manageable. After another 10 minute wait I was inside. There was a logjam right inside the door because they were apportioning the paper towels right up front; just like 2 weeks ago nearly everyone was buying those, and within the time I was there they ran out.

I found the big beef franks that they didn't have last time. They were well stocked with most of the snack products, and I needed some of that stuff, but if you needed staples you were mostly out of luck. Even the cereal aisle was devastated - I got one of the last four boxes of Cheerios, the Raisin Bran was all gone. A lot of people were buying meat, and there wasn't much of that left.

The checkout lines were long, most everyone had overflowing carts, and the line to get out stretched nearly all the way back to the pharmacy area (the yellow tape strips on the floor that are supposed to keep people 6 feet apart only go back a third of that distance). So, a shopping trip that should have taken no more than an hour took well over two hours.

Plus I was risking death the whole time I was there. A genuinely crappy experience."

But, he says, gasoline is $1.97 a gallon - Las Vegas gas always runs a lot higher than other states because they import it from California.