Originally posted by Sandy Hancock Stockpiling is an irresponsible over-reaction. The young and quick score at the disadvantage of those who really need help.
Humanity needs to re-discover the quality which made us what we are. Community.
My grandma was raised in postwar Spain, she has never stopped having reserves "just in case"; this carried over to my parents. My girlfriend was born in a war zone and her parents to this day keep the basement stocked with critical supplies, so she has the same impulses.
And still we think that this amount of panic buying is preposterous. It's very easy to keep *reasonable* amounts of food and hygiene supplies, since a kg of flour or rice is ~3500 kg which is (almost) enough for one day if you are two people sitting at home.
Let's see for a couple weeks: 10 kg of rice/flour/dry legumes, one or two liters of olive or sunflower oil, a kg or two of frozen meat, a couple kg of canned vegetables. That doesn't take up a lot of space, can be built up easily over a week or two of "normal" shopping, isn't even particularly expensive, and they are things that would be eaten normally anyway so they don't go to waste.
---------- Post added 03-16-20 at 02:14 AM ----------
Originally posted by pjv One of Australia’s largest supermarkets is planning on dedicating the first hour of trading each day to the elderly only. The shelves will be full because of the night stacking. Hopefully the other big supermarkets follow suit. This is a great move methinks.
A friend of mine back in Spain is trying to get the other "youngsters" in his (rural) area to organize and run errands and grocery shopping so the elderly don't have to expose themselves. Other such initiatives are taking place elsewhere. Despite the stupidity (all the Covid cases in a certain region of Spain were people from Madrid who ignored the recommendations* and ran away to the coast for "impromptu holidays") and recklessness (a colleague of mine came to work with fever a week ago "because of important experiments", I'm still angry) shown by many, a lot of people ARE coming together for each other, we are not all "cocking our heads".
*On the face of such flagrant lack of common sense, it is now a "Crime against public health" to break quarantine rules. I can't believe it had to come to this.