Experts say there’s no need to hoard supplies.
Keep calm, officials say; Toilet paper is plentiful
Keep calm and stop hoarding. The spread of coronavirus in the U.S. won’t wipe out our toilet paper supply. Or supplies of hand sanitizer, bottled water and ramen.
That is, unless the frenzied stampedes for hand sanitizer and bottled water continue.
Anticipating a potential quarantine, some shoppers ran out this weekend to buy food, water and other staples so they could avoid exposing themselves and their families. But others, alarmed by the rising death count and number of confirmed cases in the U.S., went on unnecessary buying binges, stripping store shelves.
“If everyone thinks things are going to run out, they go and buy out things and they do run out.”
Karan Girotra, Cornell University professor
“Panic buying is a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Karan Girotra, professor of operations at Cornell University. “If everyone thinks things are going to run out, they go and buy out things and they do run out.”
No question the pandemic, which continues to spread rapidly in Korea, Japan and Europe is testing complex global supply chains that tend to run lean.
Medical devices and equipment and pharmaceutical products – and the raw materials to make them – are at greatest risk as demand for face masks and drugs to combat the virus
rises.
Panic buying and consumer hoarding have restricted some of these critical supplies because of “poor allocation,” with shoppers at low risk buying up protective gear, leaving too few face masks for medical professionals and workers who have frequent interaction with the public, such as taxi and bus drivers or retail clerks, Girotra says.
Supply chain experts say to stop worrying about hoarding basic necessities beyond having on hand the recommended 14-day emergency supply of food and necessities.
“Panic is the biggest enemy,” Girotra says.
Perishable food such as fruits and vegetables are unlikely to be limited in the short term.
Supplies of imported frozen meat and fish are more at risk but already were limited by trade sanctions.
Packaged goods such as cereal and toothpaste and dry goods won’t be affected in the near term either.
For items that are now in shorter supply, such as hand sanitizer, plenty of substitutes exist such as soap. Some people are even making their own.
Anna Sequoia, 74, of Glen Cove, New York, made several stops in search of paper masks last week – no luck on those – and Purell hand sanitizer – “extremely hard to find” or sold out.
She was able to fill prescriptions and pick up over-the-counter medicine, vitamins, dog and cat food, cat litter, dry beans, pasta, frozen fruit, and paper goods.
She and her husband were floored by the crush of humanity on a visit to
Costco Sunday morning.
“I haven’t seen it like that, even before Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Sequoia said. “There was an air of aggressive competition even before we got into the store. People were pushing carts into each other. Almost no courtesy. Virtually every cart on the way out had Clorox wipes in it. The carts were LOADED.”
The panic buying, Sequoia said, was “pretty disconcerting.”
Even with images of all those empty shelves flooding social media feeds, supply chain experts urged people to stop, well, freaking out.
“We don’t have a shortage of toilet paper in this country. We have plenty of toilet paper to go around,” said Per Hong, a senior partner in the strategic operations practice at Kearney, a global management consultancy.
“Those supplies will be fully restocked and my ability to go to the store to get those supplies isn’t going to go away anytime soon.”
Adam White, 39, of South St. Paul, Minnesota, says he and his partner stocked up on food, medication, bottled water, paper products, and cleaning supplies Saturday, the same day President Trump held a news conference about the coronavirus. “We thought there would be a panic from the news of the virus spreading and wanted to ensure we could get the supplies that we needed,” he said.
But anxiety levels were much lower than he expected.
“The atmosphere when I was at the store was pretty normal. It didn’t seem frenzied or panicked,” he said. “My partner and I are in the process of remodeling our house, and have actually noticed masks being in short supply for several weeks. We were able to find some at a local ‘mom and pop’ hardware store for the purposes we were needing them for.”