# Coronavirus--I don't get it.\[hoarding toilet paper\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 8, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107 "2020-03-08T16:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/81 "2020-03-11T00:15:15Z")
Because it sucks to have to go out when you are sick. We bought canned soup, gatorade, and toilet paper. Because when it hits us, we don’t want to go to the store. No, I do not need the benefit of your wisdom on the usefulness of gatorade. When I’m sick, it makes me feel better to drink cold water and gatorade. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/82 "2020-03-11T00:17:48Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Because it sucks to have to go out when you are sick. We bought canned soup, gatorade, and toilet paper. Because when it hits us, we don’t want to go to the store. > > No, I do not need the benefit of your wisdom on the usefulness of gatorade. When I’m sick, it makes me feel better to drink cold water and gatorade. Gatorade is Pedilyte for adults (which is a good thing). ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/83 "2020-03-11T00:18:21Z")
Coronavirus comes in many flavors. Human-type manifests as a respiratory inection, and is passed along by wet stuff from sneezing and coughing. Animal coronaviruses can either be respiratory or gastrointestinal. I had a cat die from FIP, feline infectious peritonitis. Coronaviruses infect cats as a mild gastrointestinal infection. In some cats, the mild form will mutate to FIP. This is a nasty, highly infectious disease, and fatal. Fortunately, my other cat was not infected. But the one with FIP, he was miserable and I chose euthanasia. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/84 "2020-03-11T03:12:58Z")
Hmmm. My grocery store was out of all toilet paper and sanitizing wipes. In frickin’ Wyoming. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/85 "2020-03-11T05:13:53Z")
The store I work at got one pallet of TP with our PM shipment. It was gone before we could put it on the shelf. A coworker shared [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfxETe8uKbw) with the crew. We all found it hilarious.😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/86 "2020-03-11T11:02:36Z")
A friend of mine is a retired tattoo artist. When he was working he often did work for people who paid in merchandise of questionable provenance, then he’d sell the merch for cash. I was there once when someone paid for a tattoo with five DVD players new-in-box. He once accepted toilet paper for payment. The customer said it was Turnpike Paper. Several unopened cases of the stuff; horrible single ply, in _giant_ rolls that would not fit on a home dispenser. This was around 15 years ago. He might still be using it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/87 "2020-03-11T11:43:50Z")
Hate that stuff. In our office bathroom, the roll is too heavy for the thinness of the paper, so you can’t pull it out. It just rips into a tiny shred in your hand — impossible get enough leverage to rotate the roll. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/88 "2020-03-11T13:05:43Z")
I bought 2 large packs of toilet paper last weekend. It was in addition to the large pack already at home. Something we both use all the time, doesn’t go off and easily stored and would literally be a pain in the ass if we run out while sick/quarantined. I also bought canned foods and stuff suitable for freezing. I view this as sensible buying not panic buying. I don’t want to be anywhere near a shop if/when the shit hits the fan and we get locked down. I’ve heard people say that they’ll get stuff when they need it. I want to tell them that they need it now as the stock is in now and there is not a large group panic buying (at least in any supermarket I’ve go to in Dublin) but it will happen and if things get bad supply chains will start to fail and shelves will empty. This is the real thing and people have to get out of complacency and start doing the things that are required to make their lives easier and safer and also to protect other people from you if you are infected. Everyone in the world that can should be stocking up sensibly now. Getting what they need and getting home. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/89 "2020-03-11T13:37:50Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I wish I lived by the beach. > Seashell collecting is a great hobby. 😃 Be careful - the sand gets _everywhere_. And don’t ask me how I know. We always have at least a couple of month’s worth of TP (and paper towels) because we only buy it when it’s on sale. Monday morning I bought a pack with a coupon from a local grocery chain and all the shelves were full. I didn’t notice any empty spaces in our Kroger store last week either. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/90 "2020-03-11T13:49:41Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > A friend of mine is a retired tattoo artist. When he was working he often did work for people who paid in merchandise of questionable provenance, then he’d sell the merch for cash. So was he more of a tattoo artist who fenced, or a fence who did tattoos? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/91 "2020-03-11T14:03:57Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > The store I work at got one pallet of TP with our PM shipment. It was gone before we could put it on the shelf. > > A coworker shared [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfxETe8uKbw) with the crew. We all found it hilarious.😃 What are those people living off…Hot Pockets? - Jim Gaffigan BTW, the Costco we visited this weekend was truly out of TP. But they did had an entire row of pallets of bottled water and people were snapping it up. I don’t get it. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/92 "2020-03-11T14:06:41Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So was he more of a tattoo artist who fenced, or a fence who did tattoos? He was a tattoo artist who minded his own business. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/93 "2020-03-11T17:01:33Z")
Now I wanna know how he declared income taxes. (Not really, cuz I mind my own damn business, too. But it amused me to picture it. If he was a church man, did he tithe 10% of the DVD players, too?) On a more serious note … a respiratory virus can be spread via poop? Getthefuckouttahere. How is that possible from a biological or anatomical basis? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/94 "2020-03-11T18:03:18Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Now I wanna know how he declared income taxes. > > (Not really, cuz I mind my own damn business, too. But it amused me to picture it. If he was a church man, did he tithe 10% of the DVD players, too?) > > On a more serious note … a respiratory virus can be spread via poop? Getthefuckouttahere. How is that possible from a biological or anatomical basis? Most saliva is swallowed. An infected person’s saliva is probably full of the virus. The trick is to survive the hostile chemistry of the digestive tract. I wonder if this could also be contaminating through blood/lymph? (Shedding into the lower GI tract from the bloodstream) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/95 "2020-03-11T18:07:39Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Now I wanna know how he declared income taxes. 😃 He was old school tattoo, one of a few well known Pittsburgh area names in the business. Sign on the door “CASH ONLY” but I’m sure he sent a token amount to the IRS. He owned the shop and the artists working under him were contractors who took care of their own tax situation. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/96 "2020-03-11T18:55:36Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Most saliva is swallowed. An infected person’s saliva is probably full of the virus. The trick is to survive the hostile chemistry of the digestive tract. > > I wonder if this could also be contaminating through blood/lymph? (Shedding into the lower GI tract from the bloodstream) I haven’t seen an analysis of cross-species transmission. However, this is quite common with influenza. Remember Swine Flu? Bird or Avian Flu? I doubt birds and pigs coughed or sneezed on people. Most likely, the animals were originally butchered for meat, and the meat (and meat processors) became contaminated with minute fecal particles. People typically touch their faces many times a day. This particular coronavirus is theorized to come from bats, and the Wuhan open market was selling bat meat for food. You get a couple of virus particles in the bat intestinal tract who are bored, and they have nothing better to do than mutate their RNA a tiny bit, to make it compatible with human respiratory tracts… ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/97 "2020-03-11T20:19:13Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > On a more serious note … a respiratory virus can be spread via poop? Getthefuckouttahere. How is that possible from a biological or anatomical basis? [“When the P-trap failed in the Amoy Garden apartment complex in Hong Kong, the plumbing system, in effect, acted as a transportation system for the virus to spread quickly through the building”](https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/personal-protective-equipment/sars-and-plumbing-role-sewage-plays-spreading-disease) By “failed” they just mean that the drainage traps in the bathroom floors dried out. This allowed aerosolized feces - AKA “toilet plumes” into the bathrooms of other apartments. HK residents now religiously poor water into their floor traps. Personally, as an ex-cleaner I poor water into floor and shower traps anyway, to prevent sewer smells from entering a building. I can only guess that the reason the HK traps all dried out is because the system was so well ventilated in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/98 "2020-03-11T21:27:08Z")
News from the Eastern front (ish - just south of London). I went out to buy a few things at our local Tesco today. (It happens to be a very large store - Tesco is mid to bottom of the range of supermarkets). Shelves completely empty: toilet paper (of course), pasta, rice, tomato puree (?!), granulated sugar. Shelves very nearly empty: paper towels, breakfast cereals (?!), bread flour. Shelves that were surprisingly full: bread, tinned goods in general, bleach. And noodles. By noodles I mean the oriental variety. I guess the typical Tesco user\* has not spotted the similarity to pasta - or we’re not at that level of panic yet. But when someone who uses Tesco commits to doing some real cooking (by buying bread flour), you know something is afoot. j - - hey, it’s just round the corner from us! Too easy not to use. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/99 "2020-03-12T00:18:35Z")
Stops at Walmart and Winco today, to fill in things I had forgotten to include in delivery orders. Paper goods in general, along with Lysol-type disinfecting spray and bleach, were utterly gone at both Walmarts I went to. Winco had decent stock on paper goods and bleach, but was totally out of any disinfectants. I did buy my usual stock-up quantities of paper towels and kleenex. I have comfortable quantities of TP and bleach on hand already, so didn’t feel a need to get more. I do have plenty of canned and frozen foods on hand, and there’s lots of food for the cat. Maybe a reserve supply of litter would be a good idea? What’s in her box is what she has, but I just did a dump/wash/refill very recently. DH has at least several weeks of each of his prescription meds, and we always keep a decent supply of OTC stuff on hand. I’m also well-stocked on feminine supplies, even though I haven’t needed same in several months (no, I am not pregnant. I’m middle-aged). Did find an online source for isopropyl alcohol and ordered some, due to arrive within the next week. Between that and bleach, I think I should be OK for any household disinfection needs. Have I missed anything, or am I reasonably set at this point? The only quarantine I’m hearing about in my area is at a senior long-term facility where there was a death recently (90yo patient with pre-existing medical issues). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107/100 "2020-03-12T00:49:41Z")
I looked at several stores today. All were out of hand sanitizer. One was out of milk. One was low on chips. All had toilet paper stacked prominently on endcaps or freestanding displays, all had water, all had aspirin and ibuprofen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-i-dont-get-it-hoarding-toilet-paper/849107.md?page=6)