Coronavirus Fears and Empty Supermarkets

[Super S]

I made a weekly grocery run last night. The only unusual thing I noticed was that Fred Meyer was completely wiped out of gallons of water (but had cases of bottled water on hand) The Walmart down the road had gallons but supply was low. Same story with the bottled water. (I regularly buy gallons of water because of issues with our local water supply)

[TW-Upstate NY]

The question is , if and when this becomes as bad as they say it will be, when does the price gouging start? You know there will be some unscrupulous merchants out there who will try to take advantage of the situation; that's human nature unfortunately. None of us have any way of knowing how this will play out but I'm hoping it will be something similar to Y2K.

[pseudo3d]

Things are still holding up well in Texas. There's no hand sanitizer with signs apologizing for out of stock and limiting count when they do come back, but the bottled water at H-E-B has plenty of stock, with several pallets of water available.

[Super S]

The question is , if and when this becomes as bad as they say it will be, when does the price gouging start? You know there will be some unscrupulous merchants out there who will try to take advantage of the situation; that's human nature unfortunately. None of us have any way of knowing how this will play out but I'm hoping it will be something similar to Y2K.

Several years back there was a water emergency in Toledo, Ohio. Several convenience stores actually got in trouble for selling cases of bottled water at marked-up prices ($16-$20 per case) The operators of said stores claimed they were selling it at the same price as single bottles (which is still marked up), but it was still viewed as price gouging as some stores brought in pallets of water and displayed them at those prices.

[Alpha8472]

There are reports that stores are selling out of Twinkies and Ding Dongs. Contrary to popular belief, they do go bad. I found a leftover one that must have been a couple years old and it was green with mold. It was horrifying.

[storewanderer]

I noticed a lot more empty shelves in Reno area in stores I was in the past couple of days. Specifically very empty of anything hand soap related (since the sanitizer has been out for a while now, it seems hand soap has suddenly become more popular). You can't find a Clorox or Lysol wipe and for some reason rubbing alcohol on the first aid aisle is also in very short supply or out of stock. Not noticing much of a run on OTC Cough/Cold items which is interesting. Paper products and bottled water also seem to be getting hit very very hard. Very very few people who are out seem to be sick.

[Alpha8472]

At the pharmacy, I have seen people come back from China coming in for prescriptions. All doctors can do is prescribe antibiotics and Tamiflu. You cannot get a coronavirus test as they are in short supply. It still shocks me that they let people back into the country and they are free to go anywhere. Many Asian people come in wearing masks and ask about the flu shot or pneumonia shot and are willing to pay for it cash since they don't have insurance in this country. I had to tell one guy that pneumonia shots are only for people over 65 unless you smoke, have diabetes, or have asthma.

One lady wearing a mask and picking up prescriptions was shocked that masks are not required in the pharmacy in this country. We sold out long ago. Now I wish we had masks.

[storewanderer]

At the pharmacy, I have seen people come back from China coming in for prescriptions. All doctors can do is prescribe antibiotics and Tamiflu. You cannot get a coronavirus test as they are in short supply. It still shocks me that they let people back into the country and they are free to go anywhere. Many Asian people come in wearing masks and ask about the flu shot or pneumonia shot and are willing to pay for it cash since they don't have insurance in this country. I had to tell one guy that pneumonia shots are only for people over 65 unless you smoke, have diabetes, or have asthma.

One lady wearing a mask and picking up prescriptions was shocked that masks are not required in the pharmacy in this country. We sold out long ago. Now I wish we had masks.

Certain political figures that are nicknamed after a citrus fruit have floated the idea of not letting people back into the country when they are "infected" (better to keep them trapped out in a cruise ship in the water...?), and other countries like Australia and various others have done the same thing by blocking flights into the country from China specifically. This could be a good idea, but it is sure lousy for the people who get caught in the shuffle and locked out. I read recently about a college student in Australia who went back to China to see family and then couldn't get back to Australia since they blocked flights in from China and figured out some zig zag path that she flew somewhere else from China, then had do do a 16 day quarantine there, then finally was able to get back into China and claimed it cost $20k and wanted the Australian government to reimburse it. What a situation. At this point the thing is so spread around that an effective flight block would have to contain a lot more countries than just China. However I think there would be significant political pushback if that were to be proposed in the US.

I thought the people are supposed to self quarantine though? I guess there is no enforcement?

[storewanderer]

Smiths has been out of stock on toilet paper for the past couple of days. Other stores have short supply but not out of stock like Smiths is.

Stores here are very busy. It looks busier than Thanksgiving. Panic has clearly struck in Nevada.

Canned foods also are getting hit harder than I've ever seen.

You will not find a bleach wipe or hand sanitizer anywhere, and you will be hard pressed to find liquid soap, rubbing alcohol, or even vinegar (????). Bottled water is also in short supply but there are still some options available everywhere (may not be the best priced options or the pint size bottle cases though) and at some stores 100% of options still available.

I have sure never seen anything like this. I also don't see any sick people out. This whole thing is very weird. I have to assume people are sick with the usual seasonal flu at this time of year (though nobody I know or work with currently is sick) but maybe they now feel pressured to stay indoors due to all the hype about this virus?

Well, the economy is going to tank in the US as a result of this regardless of what happens at this point (even if the thing dies off in a few weeks). We will all be paying dearly for this mess for months to come.

[Alpha8472]

Stores are definitely empty of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, masks, soap, isopropyl alcohol, and cleaning wipes. The lines are long and stores are crowded. People are willing to spend money to buy these items, but the supply is not keeping up. Where are these items being made? Are they made in China? Is that why there is so little supply? Perhaps companies should start opening up production facilities in the U.S. and start mass producing these items here. This epidemic could be a long term thing.

I did see sick people without masks at Sam's Club coughing up a storm. I turned right around and went to another part of the store. The lines were too ridiculously long even near closing time.