OAK LAWN, IL — While quarantined Italians sing hymns on their balconies to keep their spirits up during Italy's coronavirus outbreak that has killed 1,800 people and sickened almost 25,000 there, Americans are panic-buying hand sanitizer and toilet paper.

This past weekend, as Illinoisans' world grew increasingly smaller with the shutdown of schools, churches, bars and restaurants to slow the community spread of COVID-19, local residents posted photos on Facebook pages of shoppers pushing heaping carts of toilet paper, Lysol wipes, paper towels, meat and other items, usually accompanied by an angry comment about greed. For those wondering where all these hoarded paper products and cleaning supplies are ending up, bidding for a single roll of POM 2-ply toilet paper on eBay was at $22, with a nine-pack of Ultra Soft Charmin' Mega Rolls going for an astounding $63. Then there are the cleaning supplies: A three-pack of Lysol wipes was bidding at $44 — shipping not included.

Don't miss local and statewide news about coronavirus developments and precautions. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters. Despite people buying five times more than they normally would during this unprecedented public health crisis, there is still good in the world. Sick of all the selfish stockpiling, Oak Lawn mom Jeannie Oakes was inspired to start the Corona-Virus Food and Supplies Hoarder Trading Group on Facebook after watching a man buy up all the toilet paper last week at the Home Depot on 95th Street.



"He filled up his car and then came back in and bought more," she said in a phone interview while on the prowl for Lysol Max Cover Spray, a product she discovered a few years ago when a nasty norovirus flattened Oakes, her husband and their three children. "I asked the guy, 'What about all the other people who need toilet paper?' He said, 'That's their problem.' It started a fire in me." After driving to the seventh store looking for Lysol Max Cover Spray when she should have been at home social distancing, Oakes started the Corona-Virus Food and Supplies Hoarders Trading Group, where people looking for items could trade their excess Lysol Wipes for a few rolls of Cottonelle.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is happening in a time when politics are dividing us," Oakes said. "I don't know if the person I just gave four rolls of toilet paper to is a Democrat or a Republican — to me, they are just someone who needs toilet paper."

Since the group's launch Friday, it has evolved into something much larger than Oakes anticipated, with unintended consequences of goodness.