Why is toilet paper out of stock in the US? Read to know the reasons of over-piling

The world continues to be affected by the rapid spread of Coronavirus, as many companies have shut down its operations and countries have been put under lockdown. Considering the nature of the pandemic and its impact, citizens across the globe are now stockpiling essential commodities like sanitisers, toilet papers and canned food to avoid the local transmission of the pandemic. However, due to excess stock-piling of toilet papers, the US markets are facing a shortage of the commodity.

Since the news of banning foreign tourists from Europe and other specified countries mentioned by the US Government was made public, it seems like the US citizens have quite understood the gravity of the situation, as they have started over-hoarding essential goods. Tweets and videos of people panic-buying toilet paper rolls are now proliferating on social media.

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Unawareness

An excess buying of toilet paper will not help protect anyone against Covid-19, but it will cause a run on supplies that keeps others from getting what they might need. As mentioned on the official website of WHO, common signs of Coronavirus infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. As mentioned by health experts, the essential items one can stock to avoid getting out of the house are medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen and canned goods. 

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People resort to extremes when they hear conflicting messages

As mentioned by Steven Taylor, who is a clinical psychologist and author of ‘The Psychology of Pandemics’ in an interview, when people are told something dangerous is coming, they do nothing but resort to extremes when they hear conflicting messages. Taylor called people’s response to the widespread of Coronavirus understandable but excessive.

People are reacting to the lack of a clear direction from officials

Baruch Fischhoff, a psychologist and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, recently mentioned that if the Government doesn’t make official promises of taking care of its citizens, people are left to guess the probability of needing the extra toilet paper, sooner rather than later.

Natural to over prepare

According to Frank Farley, who is the former president of the American Psychological Association, remarked in a recent interview with a leading daily that the novel coronavirus is engendering a sort of survivalist psychology, where people must live as much as possible at home and thus must 'stock up' on essentials, which certainly includes toilet paper.

Check out some videos of people panic-buying toilet papers in the US

Coronavirus in India

Coronavirus, has been declared a pandemic by the WHO and has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide and has now reached India, as the number of coronavirus cases in the country has increased sharply from atleast 75 this week.

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