By Brianna Tran
The world is in hysteria. The shelves at the supermarkets are bare; people have barricaded themselves in their homes. It’s as if the apocalypse had happened right in our own backyards, but this is not the case. People have been taken over by fear from the recent outbreak of COVID-19. It is better for people to stay indoors and practice social distancing to help stop the spread, but there is one thing that simply does not make sense: the hoarding situation.
It has been recommended for households to stock up on two weeks of groceries to limit social outings; however, since the beginning, it appears that some people have gone out of control. Even before the Virginia government announced its stay-at-home ordinance, people were stocking up, buying bulk items of everything. They had to ration items at the grocery store simply to make sure that other people could buy necessities like sugar and flour. Stores even had to ration bottle water to prevent people from fighting over it. It was complete chaos. I understand people wanting to be prepared for the worst case scenarios, but to buy so much stock that other people are left with nothing is nonsense.
Take for example hand sanitizer and toilet paper, the first items to go in this crisis. They are practically non-existent for people who actually need them. Someone has 1,000 rolls of toilet paper in stock, which they probably won’t entirely use while someone else has only 10 rolls. Hand sanitizer is retailing online for almost $50 a bottle and has become so scarce that alcohol breweries have begun to make their own hand sanitizer and give it out for free. By fixing a problem for yourself by hoarding necessities, you are creating an issue for someone else which completely contradicts your efforts. You might have clean hands, but ten people who don’t have access to hand sanitizer or toilet paper might not.
In a time where the world is in such chaos, people have to work together to ensure everyone has certain necessities. This is not the time to be selfish. If you go to the store, buy only two cartons of eggs instead of five to save some for others. The same goes for any other necessities. We can still work together as a community to help each other through simple acts like this. And in a time of crisis, we can’t afford to work against one another. We need to work together to stop the virus from spreading, starting with the end of hoarding items.