The Personal Blog of Stephen Sekula

Fear and shopping in the time of coronavirus

“sold out of bottled water?” by Klara Kim is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Things people panic-buy (and stores seem to have run out of) when faced with a serious respiratory virus:

  • Toilet paper
  • Tissue
  • Paper towels
  • Cleaning supplies
  • Oatmeal
  • Fresh Beef
  • Fresh Chicken
  • Pasta
  • Milk
  • Fresh vegetables, including avocados
  • Frozen vegetables
  • Eggs
  • Bread
  • Yellow onions
  • Bottled water

Things people do not buy (still well in-stock) when faced with a serious respiratory virus:

  • Fresh or frozen fish
  • Peanut butter
  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • White, red, and vidalia onions
  • Ice cream

(observations from North Texas)