Many don’t have housemates, and many housemates will be infected and running errands. The article is right. Logistics aside, people simply cannot afford this. What is worse, companies are going to lose money and then lay people off. 2020 is going to be a year for the history books.Housemates can go to work or school, but it’s going to be their job to stock up on groceries, pick up prescriptions, take care of the quarantined and keep the place clean.
Another thing that I think is important to mention. The article talks about people using separate bathrooms or being in a room by themselves. (This will be relevant) My company is doing a stress test on Monday that requires anyone who can to work from home. There's one bathroom in my shared apartment. Besides the bedrooms and bath, we have effectively two rooms in an open floor plan. There is no way one of us could use a separate bathroom if infected and that's a luxury of the upper class. How many apartment dwellers with roommates can afford to sequester a bathroom? The last several rental situations I had could not afford to do that, simply didn't have enough bathrooms for one to be used exclusively by one person. I don't even have the space for a separate office. If I want to work from home I do so from what is effectively our kitchen table, which oh by the way is in the dining/family/living room, because we only have one room for all those activities. I truly don't believe that my small apartment is abnormal in the scheme of things. I really dislike it but my plans for the weekend are to leave the apartment to go running, basically. Grocery shopping sunday, and that's about it.