Crappy Question

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Dehn0045

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Why the run on toilet paper? Seriously, I don't get it. I understand stocking up on hand sanitizer, facemasks, canned foods, and to a certain extent bleach and other cleaning products. But toilet paper? Bottled water is a little wierd too -- this isn't a hurricane or natural disaster, just turn on the faucet, you'll be fine -- but I digress. Is this virus going to all of a sudden make everyone poo more? Isn't it a respiratory thing -- maybe I have been using TP all wrong... At any given time I probably have a months supply in the house or more, I'm guessing most other people could last a while on what they have in the closet. But again, maybe I'm just weird -- maybe I've been doing something wrong, this isn't something we talk about often... If I ran out of TP I'm sure I would figure something out, after all our species survived for quite a while without it. It seems like this trend started Down Under (Australia that is -- sorry, bad joke). After I saw news reports about people going crazy there about TP then everyone here started doing the same thing. Its gotta be the strangest thing I've observed so far with this whole coronavirus thing. Stay safe out there.
 
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ecrouse

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I've created this infographic that explains it all. You're welcome :p

1583929510102.png
 

mark james

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I agree Sam, I don't get the panic for TP either. Yesterday our local big box store had a rationing sign for 22 items - You could only buy 36 rolls of TP per person... One lady said she would simply buy 36 then take it to her car and come back in for more. :rolleyes:
 

jttheclockman

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The answer is if they were to get quarantined and have to stay in the house and not get out then these supplies would be needed. My question is if a person in a family gets it where do the rest of the family go?? Do they stay and quarantee also?? I am guessing so. That means more supplies are needed. Enough for 2 weeks.
 

Dehn0045

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The answer is if they were to get quarantined and have to stay in the house and not get out then these supplies would be needed. My question is if a person in a family gets it where do the rest of the family go?? Do they stay and quarantee also?? I am guessing so. That means more supplies are needed. Enough for 2 weeks.
in the case of the guy from Missouri the answer is "take your other daughter to a father-daughter dance"
 

pshrynk

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It is mass psychology (hysteria) at its finest. Someone somewhere got it in their head that they needed to stock up on TP and bought out a store. They might have even been buying to to run a gigantic bridal shower with the TP bridal gowns thing, who knows. But, then there was the next person who saw the empty shelf and asked and was told inaccurate info, so they bought as much as they could and posted on Twitter and Facebook, which then went viral and voile empty shelves. And this sort of nonsense get perpetuated, even in the light of everyone being told that there is no role for TP (ha!) in Covid treatment or prevention. Now the big test is if this dies down as the virus itself slowly burns out, or will we be looking at a permanent shortage? Hard to predict, actually.
 

hannah

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Dec 27, 2019
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Tacoma, WA
Tell me about it. I work for a water utility and am confused as to why people are stocking up on bottled water... it's not a water borne illness? I think people just grab every "emergency preparedness" item they can think of, regardless of applicability.
 

dogcatcher

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TX, NM or on the road
Tell me about it. I work for a water utility and am confused as to why people are stocking up on bottled water... it's not a water borne illness? I think people just grab every "emergency preparedness" item they can think of, regardless of applicability.
Fear, nothing else. A lot of people think they are about to die. Ignorance is crazy thing...
 

FrankH

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The joke around here, Morgantown WV, is that when several inches of snow is predicted, the grocery stores are going to have a run on milk, bread and TP. The milk & bread makes sense, but the TP?
 

Ironwood

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We have been seeing empty shelves in the TP aisle at the supermarkets for over a week now. There seems to be no logical reason for people to be stockpiling it. I think one shop ran out , then the media got hold of it and have whipped up this frenzy amongst enough people to create a shortage.
I read part of an interview with a representative from one of the companies that produce TP here in Australia, they were asked if they were going to put on extra staff and ramp up production to meet the current demands. They answered NO, they would continue with their normal level of production, the reason being the more they put on the shelves the more people would stockpile, then once they hit the saturation point, people would stop buying and start using their stockpiles, and the sales would stop for a long period until people used up their hoard. During this low sales period the company would have to lay off staff.
I have heard that since then, a couple of other manufacturers have increased their production .
Bags of rice seem to be getting scarce on our supermarket shelves as well now. I wonder what will be next ?
 

GraiDawg

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montclair new jersey
It's a perfect example of media fuelled panic, if you heard tha people were clearing out the tp, and you look in the cupboard and see 2 rolls, you got the the store and buy a pack. but so is mrs jones fom down the street and that leads to what we see
 

jttheclockman

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It's a perfect example of media fuelled panic, if you heard tha people were clearing out the tp, and you look in the cupboard and see 2 rolls, you got the the store and buy a pack. but so is mrs jones fom down the street and that leads to what we see
I deleted this question never mind. I will pass.
 

howsitwork

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possibly hysteria about Noro virus aka "winter vomiting bug " which often does require a supply of toilet roll ?

does no one read newspapers anymore ? as scouts it was essential for fire lighting and " other purposes " unspecified.
 

jttheclockman

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Go back to the old days and use newspaper. Oh yea no one gets the newspaper any more. :) Went today to pick a few things up instead of waiting for my usual day of Tues. I also wanted to beat the weekend crowd and it sure was busy. The bright side of some of this there are businesses that will thrive from all this and there are those that will just sink if they can not hold on long enough. Drastic measures will be needed such as delay mortgages, delay taxes, and then there is cancellations of court dates, and other gathering events. It will get worse before it gets better.
 
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