How People Are Stockpiling Their Pantries Amid Coronavirus Spread

We find out how people are stocking up on supplies in light of the spread of the novel coronavirus.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

President Trump signed an $8 billion emergency spending bill today to fight the coronavirus. That money is meant to help contain the virus and develop a vaccine.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In the meantime, people around the country have been making their own preparations - raiding store shelves for things like canned goods and hand sanitizer. Costco says its sales were up 3% in February, driven, the company says, by concerns over the coronavirus.

SHAPIRO: We wanted to know what you were buying and how you're prepping. And here is what you had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I have stocked up on groceries - a lot more groceries than usual just in case I don't want to go to the grocery store next week or the week after. So I'm trying to be prepared but not freaked out.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Definitely water.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: A lot of toilet paper.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah. Food.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Yeah, like chips.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Canned goods, so we could be inside for a long time and not have to be outside.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Now I keep wipes and Lysol in unconventional places like in the back of my Prius. I'm not Y2K crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Nothing has changed. I just make sure the kids wash their hands. And that's really about it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: I'm still hugging people. I'm still shaking people's hands.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #7: You know, people want to shake my hand. And I'm like, oh, sorry I'm not shaking hands, but I really appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #8: I don't take the subway. I ride bikes, skateboard. I don't like to have much contact or be, like, too close to people.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #9: Keep your hands to yourself. I think you'll be OK.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #10: It goes back to what your mother told you when you were a child. Wash your hands.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #11: I try to watch what I'm touching, watch where I'm sitting.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #12: I'm not afraid. I mean, if you're going to get sick, you're going to get sick. If not, you're not going to get sick. So...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #13: I'm concerned both by people who are overpreparing and by people who aren't preparing at all.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #14: I work at a health clinic. And I'm pretty sure at some point, we're going to be shut down or quarantined. And so I'm going out today to buy a concertina, so I can learn how to play it while I'm sequestered at home.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #15: Just pray for the best, I guess. That's about the only thing we can do.

SHAPIRO: Coronavirus concerns from across the nation. We heard from D’Andre Millet and Morgan Reisch in Oakland, Calif.; Christy Claymore, Laurie Peterson and Courtney McQuain in Boise, Idaho; Sri Vallichekuri, Nyjri Edgar, Isaac Robinson and Cherri Jacob in Houston, Texas.; Lorenzo Johnson in Cleveland, Ohio.; Marley Rodriguez in New York City and Jacqueline Lane, Nira Perez and Dee Williams in Los Angeles.

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