Amid worry about the coronavirus, masks are in short supply at retailers around Toronto.

Online, people are sharing photos of masks, both surgical and N95, sold at inflated prices. (The N95 respirator is the most common of particulate-filtering masks.)

The virus, which emerged from Wuhan, China, has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.

A photo circulating online showed a display of masks being sold at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus bookstore. The photo showed the price per mask for a medical-grade N95 respirator was $8, while a full box ran $160. An employee at the bookstore confirmed the price in the photo is accurate.

Surgical masks were advertised at $2 per mask, with a full box priced at $100.

(On Amazon, prices for a box of 50 surgical masks ran between $30 and $50.)

No masks were available when the Star visited the University of Toronto St. George campus bookstore Friday morning.

A cashier said the masks sold out.

Employees at the bookstore could not immediately confirm whether they were stocked before news of the outbreak in China.

Lotta Lindblom, vice-president of retail at U of T Bookstore, told the Star that the store leapt to order masks when students began expressing their interest in buying them. “We rushed to find a supplier to bring the masks in-store for our community. By the end of last week, suppliers had considerably increased the price of the masks, and, in an effort, to receive them quickly, we paid expedited shipping costs,” Lindblom said.

“All of these factors increased the cost of the masks, contributing to the higher-than-expected price point displayed in-store yesterday.”

Lindblom called the display and the lack of explanation about the increased prices “a great misstep.”

“The display has been removed, and we deeply apologize for the impression it created. Our goal of servicing our community’s needs was not met, and, for that, we are truly sorry,” she said.

She confirmed the bookstore always keeps masks in stock as it sells a wide variety of medical supplies to students.

Vivian Peng said that the price for each mask was steep, but she’d pay for it in a pinch.

Peng, who was wearing a pink surgical mask, outside the John P. Robarts research library, told the Star she’s “happy with having some masks, no matter whether it’s (being sold at) a premium or not.”

She said the masks she has purchased from other retailers have been at a price she’d expect.

Peng said the masks she recently purchased from a dental supply website cost her $40 for a box of 50.

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She said she wore the mask because she’s worried about contracting the virus, and to allay the fears of others: “I think, because I come from China, I’m also afraid people may think I carry the virus.

“So (wearing it) is just for my own good health and for other people’s health.”

At a Rexall pharmacy near the university, surgical masks were out of stock. A price sticker advertised that a 10-pack of surgical masks cost $7.29, or $0.73 per mask. A three-pack of all-purpose masks was priced at $6.79, or $2.26 per mask.

Hong Kong has seen panic buying of masks.

The fear of the virus is existential for the densely populated city of seven million, where about 300 people died and more than 1,000 were infected in the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, epidemic of 2003, The Washington Post reports.

The outbreak of the new coronavirus outbreak is badly timed for Hong Kong.

The coronavirus threat comes as public trust in authorities has collapsed amid the political turmoil, contributing to panic and a rush for supplies.

At a branch of CRCare, a local pharmacy chain, in the Aberdeen neighborhood, a shop assistant said a delivery of masks arrived at 9 a.m. The 120 boxes sold out in 10 minutes. She didn’t know when new stocks would arrive. Customers had been waiting in line before 6 a.m. Some became aggressive as they were turned away after supplies ran out.

A Washington Post reporter tried looking for hand-sanitizer in about a dozen locations across the city, and returned empty-handed and received no indication when deliveries might arrive. Online retailers offer little help; after an hour-long wait to enter the online store of Watsons, a pharmacy chain, a few minutes clicking around the items for sale revealed that every kind of hand-sanitizer, disinfectant, medical wet wipe and antiseptic had been sold out.

Panic buying has extended to grocery stores, where fresh vegetables are in short supply and household cleaning products, such as laundry detergent and hand soap are being snapped up, the Post reported.

—with files from The Washington Post