2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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196 posts

Master Geek
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#2429179 29-Feb-2020 11:04

If someone locked us in our house now for 2 weeks we'd naturally have enough food etc to live on with no need to get extra.

The only problem is we'd have to eat those tins of lentils, indian tomatoes, dried apricots etc that we have but never get around to using.

The beer may run out but the wine should last. Worst case we need to drink the cranberry juice thats maybe 2 years old.

Toilet paper may need to be rationed , but theres always newspaper or leaves!

ben28

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#2429180 29-Feb-2020 11:06

MileHighKiwi: I don't know why people are buying water, the stuff comes out your tap for free.

I'll shop online the next few weeks if this is what the supermarkets are going to be like.

The government does recommend that people keep food and water for at least three days on hand in their home (at least 3l per person). Typically done by purchasing pre-packaged water.

It is possible that the first case of Covid-19 has simply encouraged people to build a standard emergency kit.

https://getthru.govt.nz/emergency-survival-items

But yeah, if you are stockpiling specifically for Covid-19, bottled water is of little value.

This isn't a black swan event, essential services (power, water, sewage, general food supply) are very unlikely to be affected.

What is likely is supply chain issues will impact the supply of some specific goods. Note that china's factories are only running at 50% (according to the ceo of a shipping giant). As such, we would expect supply of some ex-china goods to get low in the near future. A lot of it will be things like textiles, which most people could likely give up buying for 6months with no significant life impact. Pharmaceuticals however is a particular concern, Although Pharmac buys a lot from Europe, 80% of the worlds pharmaceutical supply is dependent on china.

frednz

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#2429181 29-Feb-2020 11:10

MileHighKiwi: I don't know why people are buying water, the stuff comes out your tap for free.

I'll shop online the next few weeks if this is what the supermarkets are going to be like.

Just been around a supermarket and if you go early in the morning you usually dont have crowds of people there. Not many items had run out, only face masks and hand sanitiser. Which of course has been the case for about 3 weeks now, when will the 18 million masks Jacinda says NZ has available, be released to the public?

Overall, I didn't see much evidence of panic buying although a few trolleys were loaded with water bottles which seems strange to me considering you can fill bottles up for free at the local aquifers.

So, we have plenty of time before mass isolation is likely so just a gradual build-up of food stocks will do the trick, panic buying isn't necessary (IMHO)! There are heaps of travellers around and accommodation for this weekend is hard to find at some popular tourist spots so this is a good thing also.

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#2429184 29-Feb-2020 11:22

pinkydot:

When the H1N1 happened, did NZ has such panic buying at the supermarket before? I can't remember at all.

I don't recall any.

That said H1N1 is not really comparable to COVID-19. You need to look back to the Spanish flu in 1918 to get find pathogen with similar r0 and mortality.

Also all the social media / post truth stuff theses days is more likely to trigger panic buying.

Add into it that the NZ herald chose an extremely alarmist front page today.

Really this should not have come as a surprise to anybody, our government officials had published that they expected NZ to get cases. US CDC had asked all sectors of their country to get ready....

It appears that some people are just panic buying because others are. - Not particularly concerned about COVID-19, but worried that other's panic buying will mean nothing is left if they don't get in soon. - Good old bank run situation...

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#2429185 29-Feb-2020 11:26

frednz:

... Not many items had run out, only face masks and hand sanitiser. Which of course has been the case for about 3 weeks now, when will the 18 million masks Jacinda says NZ has available, be released to the public? ...

The 18m masks is our the pandemic stockpile for our healthcare industry.

I would hope that they are not released to the public, and are reserved for those in the medical industry who are treating those with infectious diseases (along with maintaining supply to out hospitals for standard use (i.e. surgeries), in a time when global supply is very tight).

vexxxboy

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#2429187 29-Feb-2020 11:34

ben28:

If someone locked us in our house now for 2 weeks we'd naturally have enough food etc to live on with no need to get extra.

The only problem is we'd have to eat those tins of lentils, indian tomatoes, dried apricots etc that we have but never get around to using.

The beer may run out but the wine should last. Worst case we need to drink the cranberry juice thats maybe 2 years old.

Toilet paper may need to be rationed , but theres always newspaper or leaves!

with that diet i dont think you will be rationing the toilet paper.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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Fred99

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#2429188 29-Feb-2020 11:39

Just went to local supermarket for normal supplies - can confirm it was much busier than normal for this time of day. Staff told me that there were people loading up multiple trolleys - though I didn't see anything too crazy. Longest queue was at the Lotto counter - which probably has nothing to do with covid-19 unless people have looked at their Kiwisaver balances over the past couple of days and wondered if "investing" in Lotto was a worthwhile option.

msukiwi

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#2429193 29-Feb-2020 11:57

This morning NW Wigram was as bad as Christmas with people.

About 20 cars in the carpark when they opened! (7.30am)

I was the first.... every Saturday I get a coffee before they open.

Boy, what a surprise I got when I came back from Joe's Garage with my coffee!

I pity the staff! (I shop at the same time there every Saturday, so certainly noticed the difference)

The carpark was half full when I left at 9am!

tdgeek

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#2429195 29-Feb-2020 12:04

msukiwi:

This morning NW Wigram was as bad as Christmas with people.

About 20 cars in the carpark when they opened! (7.30am)

I was the first.... every Saturday I get a coffee before they open.

Boy, what a surprise I got when I came back from Joe's Garage with my coffee!

I pity the staff! (I shop at the same time there every Saturday, so certainly noticed the difference)

The carpark was half full when I left at 9am!

Dang, that's my local too

Oblivian

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#2429196 29-Feb-2020 12:16

msukiwi:

This morning NW Wigram was as bad as Christmas with people.

About 20 cars in the carpark when they opened! (7.30am)

I was the first.... every Saturday I get a coffee before they open.

Boy, what a surprise I got when I came back from Joe's Garage with my coffee!

I pity the staff! (I shop at the same time there every Saturday, so certainly noticed the difference)

The carpark was half full when I left at 9am!

Check the lotto counter on way past?

That's likely to skew things today too. Expected to be their largest sales in years on a Saturday.

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#2429204 29-Feb-2020 12:32

Perhaps all the billionaires are getting their New Zealand boltholes stocked, though if social media is to be believed it's North Korea who seem to be taking it most seriously.

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msukiwi

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#2429205 29-Feb-2020 12:33

Oblivian:Check the lotto counter on way past?

That's likely to skew things today too. Expected to be their largest sales in years on a Saturday.

No queue on arrival or leaving!

Most I saw was 2 people at it at once! (And I looked several times!)

Just lots of "not normally" customers buying stuff!

(Assumed they didn't normally shop there as the majority of them didn't seem to know where things were!)

gzt

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#2429207 29-Feb-2020 12:41

Fred99: I think it's a smart move for everybody in NZ to ensure they've got enough supplies for self-isolation at home for at least several weeks. Should have that anyway - for natural disaster preparedness.

Everybody in NZ? This is the exact opposite of smart and it would screw everyone.

The smart thing is buy what you need when you need it in your normal purchase cycle.

If you actually need to self isolate sure go buy what you need for that online or call a friend to bring it round.

Fred99

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#2429209 29-Feb-2020 12:43

ben28:

The only problem is we'd have to eat those tins of lentils, indian tomatoes, dried apricots etc that we have but never get around to using.

I *think* I've learned from a couple of decades of provisioning our boat for a few weeks at a time - don't buy stuff you really don't like eating even if it stores forever. There's an issue with storage of perishables and trying to eat stuff in the right order - resisting temptation to pig out on the stuff you really want to eat now that will keep for weeks, and instead eating the stuff that you might not really feel like eating now - because if you don't - you'll need to chuck it out.

FineWine

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#2429214 29-Feb-2020 12:55

Fred99:

Just went to local supermarket for normal supplies - can confirm it was much busier than normal for this time of day. Staff told me that there were people loading up multiple trolleys - though I didn't see anything too crazy. Longest queue was at the Lotto counter - which probably has nothing to do with covid-19 unless people have looked at their Kiwisaver balances over the past couple of days and wondered if "investing" in Lotto was a worthwhile option.

Just returned from Pak-n-Save, Cameron Road, Tauranga and they were busier than a one armed paperhanger. Spoke to a staff member and she said that it had been like that since opening. All I wanted was a cooked chook for us and some cat litter for our two newbies.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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