Hoarding - An Alternative View

[sp1814]

There are some people who are looking to make a profit stickling, like this loser:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html

But isn't there an argument to support those who have gone out to buy extra food (to load into their freezers) for the next few weeks?

Supermarkets and food retailers generally operate on the 'just in time' stocking principle. Even if the major chains have warehouses of non-perishables, the supply chain is going to be screwed up - farms, factories, distribution centres and drivers are all going to affected by Covid-19, so doesn't stocking up (not hoarding) make sense?

[retrocop]

//I'm not advocating hoarding or bulk-buying, but you can understand where people are coming from (not those buying thirty packs of Andrex!) //

http://www.upl.co/uploads/Aliens1584753550.jpg

[jno]

ha, yes, good spot by NickorWan. Little more than a week ago and it's scaremongering, why all the fuss, pure media hysteria, and even a giggle about Roger Daltrey saying it was a pandemic.

Looks like Daltrey comes out of this looking sharper than most of AB's resident scientists and prognosticators.

[ToraToraTora]

"it worse by their greed'. It's difficult to work out what you meant by "Why All The Fuss About Corona?" because you didn't follow up the question. " - when I posted that it was in response to some views at the time that we would have to use "herd immunity" ie we'll all have to catch it anyway, so in response to that I was wondering "why all the fuss" because all the measures would be pointless if "herd immunity" is the way to go. Now that idea seems to be off the table I support what we are doing. I thought that was an obvious deduction from that post, still this AB so one must spell these things out, my bad.

[NickorWan]

I don’t think herd immunity is off the table; it is about controlling the numbers who have it at any one time, and always has been, so that the NHS has a chance of coping. The ‘fuss’ has always been about not being able to cope with those numbers. I imagine they will keep the most vulnerable isolated for a long time until we gradually fulfil the requirements of a herd, by allowing the others to mix in a controlled fashion, or until a vaccine is available should that happen first.