Has the survival instinct taken over? Are we like squirrels hiding their nuts? Is that why we, as a population, behave in this idiotic way? How long does a bar of soap or soap dispenser last? More than a week, I’d say, even with a lot of hand washing, and don’t people usually have a spare in their homes anyway? Cleaning materials, suddenly we are all spring cleaning? Toilet paper rolls, what the heck are people buying a massive surplus for? Not to mention fresh veggies, has everyone gone vegan?
I couldn’t believe it yesterday when my granddaughter called me yesterday and told me that the shelves at her local supermarket were empty. All the soaps and cleaning supplies were gone, also the long-life milk and fresh vegetables. The island with the toilet paper roll was empty.
Later I would find out that the same thing had happened in our supermarket. Why do people keep toilet paper rolls, we only isolate ourselves for a week? What are they going to do with dozens of rolls of toilet paper? Tissues would be more appropriate with flu-like symptoms. When I heard it earlier on TV I thought it was an isolated incident, obviously not!
Now I can understand a bit of food backlog, not that I’m likely to be hungry with a virus, but some extra eggs or a two-can of soup, a loaf of bread for the freezer, etc. It would make sense and be reasonable, most sullen people have enough of most things in the freezer for a week. We are only told to isolate ourselves for 7 days!
It’s a bit like Christmas or holidays, where people leave the store with hideously stacked carts to come back for another two days later. Does the surplus go to the garbage can for the landfill, or is that why so many people are obese or are there too many supplies?
I was a wartime baby and for several years we survived on meager rations of home-grown vegetables. This developed ingenious measures of housewives producing nutritious meals from next to nothing. I remember the bones for dinner, it was my favorite, which was a thin and tasty soup made from bones and vegetables. However, the nation was not obese and it was certainly much healthier. We as a population have become selfish and greedy without much wartime spirit, hopefully when the virus really hits people they will start to stop and think before emptying the supermarket in the future, and start thinking about their neighbors. and in the elderly.
Now both my ninety-nine-year-old mother and I are in the high-risk zone, but we can only act sensibly, not visit crowded places, etc. And I hope that the fact that we live in a village gives us some degree of protection. Or maybe if we are going to contract the virus, now is the time before hospitals flood. Whatever it is will be?
The rapid spread of the virus has accelerated with travel, but even in the Middle Ages a merchant brought the Black Death into the country and it soon spread like wildfire.
I’ve been reading some suggestions from an alternative medicine book and it seems that garlic is an excellent viral inhibitor, as is selenium, which is found in Brazil nuts. Vitamin C and E are immune system boosters. Maybe we should all be drinking muli-vitamins as a precaution and eating more fruit. Garlic is also available in unflavored pills. Maybe buying these instead of toilet paper rolls would be more helpful!