Come on people... Not a square is to be found.
 

I thought it was kinda funny hearing about the hysterical run on TP across the country, but with people actually doing it here, and not a square of TP is to be found in town, now I'm just irritated. Thankfully since we're a family of 6 when we purchase it we usually get quite a bit and had just resupplied before the rush.

I really don't understand this. Of all the things I need from the outside world, TP is not a high priority. Coffee, yes. Propane and gasoline, yes. Staple foods, yes. None of these have adequate substitutes, and all would be challenging to get along without.

We raised a child from birth using no disposable diapering products (diapers, wipes) -- except when we traveled more than a couple days -- so I guess the idea that TP would be impossible to get along without is pretty foreign to me.

It's weird. There is still plenty of canned food left on the shelves. I mean, if shipments of everything slow down due to COVID-19 and food supplies are disrupted, there won't be much need for TP.

I was just at the grocery store. TP is almost gone. I did see people buying it, but only one person buying only TP, and way too much of it.

The most sensible cart I saw had way too much Kraft Mac n Cheese in it -- now that's a sensible catastrophe stockpile. Around here, though, people buy a lot of that kind of junk, so maybe that shopper wasn't actually stockpiling. :)

Probably a mom who has kids home from school for the next 3 weeks. I stocked up on single-serving pizza, PB&J, another loaf of bread, lunch meat, cheese, mayo, etc. so kiddo can feed herself while I'm at work.

Good point. Parents with kids not going to school must really be in a jam. Are child care sorts of places still running?

I haven't heard of day cares being shut down, and of course it would depend on the size of the day care. There are women who run it out of their homes and only take in 2-3 children per day for some extra sending money, versus the large commercial places with a ton of kids. I would think the latter would close before the former.

The biggest problem is for parents of elementary school kids who are too young to be home alone all day and who are now scrambling for child care. Thankfully mine is in high school so she's self-sufficient. I might pimp her out as a babysitter to the neighbors with younger kids though. :D

People are being told to self quarantine for two weeks. That means no leaving the house. That means you need stuff like food and toilet paper. What is the mystery?

I already overbuy supplies but stocked up extra water, TP, canned/dry goods, cat food, snake food, medicines and feminine products. Seems like a sensible thing to do. One of my trips was just water and TP. The next trip I got the other stuff. Now someone only focusing on TP and nothing else is kind of odd but perhaps they made multiple trips (when you see someone with only TP in their cart).

Yes, but the shelves don't empty from only people who have been diagnosed (those are the ones who are being told to self-quarantine, right?) -- there's only a few thousand of those. Empty shelves is everyone in town buying the same thing, something presumably everyone already has at least some of.

How much TP does a household go through in two weeks? Not multiple big bricks.