# Coronavirus and Media hype… equals a loss of common sense



## Pete (Mar 12, 2020)

The shelf today at Kroger/Fred Meyer where there should be some toilet paper.​
*….for 14 of the 20 years I lived in Alaska I lived in a remote off-grid cabin and learned, (sometimes the hard way), to always ‘prep’ for any eventuality. Mostly this meant during the winter being ready to not be able to get to town to get needed supplies. Over the years I have watched from my warm home in the woods as people in the lower ’48’ went nuts every time the weather man reported on a hurricane or snow storm. 

Well the dog has turned when I went shopping today. I have gotten used to the lower ’48’ way of life of running out to buy whatever is needed at the moment and that has come round to bite me on the ass.*



*The picture above says it all,*
_*with the virus harmful mostly 
to older people
the rest of them for some reason
believed they needed
every roll of toilet paper*_
*in Texas.*​


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## Judycat (Mar 12, 2020)

But toilet paper will get us through Armageddon!


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## oldman (Mar 12, 2020)

Maybe I can help. Along with my wife’s 89 pairs of shoes, we have 51 rolls of TP. How did that happen?


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## Judycat (Mar 12, 2020)

What!?? Don't reveal that kind of information on a public forum!


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## Gary O' (Mar 12, 2020)

Pete said:


> ….for 14 of the 20 years I lived in Alaska I lived in a remote off-grid cabin and learned


I hear ya, Pete

Living in town for the last nine months taught me that the stores kept things for me
That's why they're called 'stores'

….riiiight

Living at the cabin taught me to plan for the worst winter ever
Never ran out of anything

Here...in town.....it can fool ya'

Wonder when the stores will git their heads out and start rationing stuff

Bottom line;
There's many other ways of taking care of yer backside


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## Ladybj (Mar 12, 2020)

I'm still confused as to why people purchased sooooo much toilet tissue. We always keep a pretty good supply to last for a while.  I want FOOD.  I can't eat toilet paper, nor does it kill viruses.  Don't get me wrong it serves it purpose..but hmmm  I'm sure people have their reasons. All the things the stores ran out of, I already have.. hand sanitizer, bottle water, toilet tissue, Lysol. I always keep these things on hand. Thank goodness.


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 13, 2020)

Ladybj said:


> I'm still confused as to why people purchased sooooo much toilet tissue. We always keep a pretty good supply to last for a while.  I want FOOD.  I can't eat toilet paper, nor does it kill viruses.  Don't get me wrong it serves it purpose..but hmmm  I'm sure people have their reasons. All the things the stores ran out of, I already have.. hand sanitizer, bottle water, toilet tissue, Lysol. I always keep these things on hand. Thank goodness.


But when you eliminate that food, hopefully daily, how are you going to clean yourself if you've run out of toilet paper?


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## IrisSenior (Mar 13, 2020)

I have my TP and now I will go to Loblaws this morning to stock up on food. With other places closing for a few weeks (like schools) I am sure more public places will follow suit. How to you close a food or drugstore? Limit quantities? I want enough to ride out a few weeks so I don't need to go to the store.


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## Pete (Mar 13, 2020)

Gary O' said:


> Bottom line;
> There's many other ways of taking care of yer backside



....I agree "Gary O"
I found myself a number of times on a remote hunt or fishing trip without any,
and back at the cabin when I have had visitors 
I have come upon what you see in the picture below.


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## WhatInThe (Mar 13, 2020)

The sheeple are following the herd of mass hysteria. People tend to be followers. Also some are actually scared they won't be able to do normal replenishment. Must admit I purchased a 4 pack about 2 weeks ahead of schedule over a week ago.


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## fmdog44 (Mar 13, 2020)

I was watching ESPN this morning and someone was being interviewed about stopping golf tournaments because of the virus. This person said if you are 60+years you chance of dying is 2X, 70: 4X and 80: 8X the norm of young people.
Wow! I thought that is scary but then it showed who the person was. His name is Andy North and his profession is a golf analyst for ESPN!! So I ask how is he qualified to throw out such numbers. Answer: He is not. This is how rumors and panic starts. ESPN ought to apologize for that fool and it's entire organization.


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## Ruthanne (Mar 13, 2020)

Yes,common sense has flown the coup until people sit back and realize they may be one of the 80% who survives okay if they get it!  Shoppers have gone nuts I see and I got mad when I saw them on tv (hoarding ridiculously)  but realize it's not their fault, they may be predisposed to anxiety like me, and need to realize the facts to calm down.


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## Old Dummy (Mar 13, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> The sheeple are following the herd of mass hysteria. People tend to be followers. Also some are actually scared they won't be able to do normal replenishment. Must admit I purchased a 4 pack about 2 weeks ahead of schedule over a week ago.



I agree. Humans have a strong herding instinct and we are seeing it now.

From my vantage point, this whole thing is way over-hyped.


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## RadishRose (Mar 13, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> I was watching ESPN this morning and someone was being interviewed about stopping golf tournaments because of the virus. This person said if you are 60+years you chance of dying is 2X, 70: 4X and 80: 8X the norm of young people.
> Wow! I thought that is scary but then it showed who the person was. His name is Andy North and his profession is a golf analyst for ESPN!! So I ask how is he qualified to throw out such numbers. Answer: He is not. This is how rumors and panic starts. ESPN ought to apologize for that fool and it's entire organization.


Just by the way, FM I live down the street from the ESPN campus. There were very few cars in one of the lots that I go past. Usually that one of full.

Want me go over and slap him for ya? LOL// he was probably working remotely, anyway.


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## oldman (Mar 14, 2020)

oldman said:


> Maybe I can help. Along with my wife’s 89 pairs of shoes, we have 51 rolls of TP. How did that happen?


Here's a picture of pair 89 before the clerk bagged them. (I'm sitting here shaking my head back and forth.)


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## oldman (Mar 14, 2020)

oldman said:


> Here's a picture of pair 89 before the clerk bagged theView attachment 95436m. (I'm sitting here shaking my head back and forth.)


I'm waiting to see what she wears these shoes with. It should be interesting. If she wears them and someone makes a comment that she takes as being negative, I will hear, "Those new shoes hurt my feet." and then I have to say, "Well, quit wearing them." That gives her the out. 

Do we know each other, or do we know each other?


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## Pete (Mar 14, 2020)

OneEyedDiva said:


> But when you eliminate that food, hopefully daily, how are you going to clean yourself if you've run out of toilet paper?


Like they did in days before toilet paper was invented.


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## Pepper (Mar 14, 2020)

20% with complications (including death) is a high number and a lot of humans behind that number.  Nothing to be scoffed at.


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## PopsnTuff (Mar 14, 2020)

Alternative to no toilet paper around! See the shower and tub to wash off in?


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## StarSong (Mar 15, 2020)

I'm not taking a mini bath or shower every time I pee.  I'll move to newspapers before going that route.  

TP will be back in stock before we know it. A March 13 article in The NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/business/toilet-paper-shortage.html. 

I'm not sure if it's behind a paywall because I'm a subscriber, so I copy/pasted enough of the article to give the gist. 

_“You are not using more of it. You are just filling up your closet with it,” said Jeff Anderson, president of Precision Paper Converters, a paper product manufacturer with 65 employees outside Green Bay, Wis. “What happens in the summer when demand dries up and people have all this extra product in their homes?”
Mr. Anderson’s business focuses on facial tissues, which are also in high demand, and he is paying employees overtime to work longer shifts. “We can’t make as much as they want right now,” he said.

Perhaps more than in its recent past, the paper industry seems well positioned to meet the surging demand. After decades of declining sales, as newspapers and printed documents lost out in the digital age, many manufacturers converted to making tissue products, like toilet paper and wipes. That means there is more manufacturing capacity that can be brought online.

In more normal times, toilet paper demand grows by only a few percentage points each year, mirroring population growth. 

The vast majority of toilet paper consumed by Americans is made in North America. But about 10 percent of the giant rolls of paper that are used to make the rolls that end up in American bathrooms come from China and India. Those imports have been delayed because of the broader bottleneck of shipments from Asia, as the region begins to recover from the virus outbreak and factories come back online." _


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## oldman (Mar 15, 2020)

Maybe U.S. manufacturers will learn from this tragedy. We should be making more of life’s necessities here at home, not overseas where it takes weeks to get here via ship. I know they sure aren’t going to fly it here. Sending goods by airfreight is super expensive.

Out of curiosity, I once applied for a job with FedEx as a pilot. After my second interview, I received a phone call from their HR department offering me a job as a pilot flying a B-767, which is the plane that I was flying at the time. The offer came to about $2000.00 more per month than what I was earning at United. I thought to myself, “Holy cow! How much does it cost to ship stuff via airfreight?” It has to be very expensive. Then, I found out how they determine price and it really blew my mind. 

I turned down the job because at the time a lot of freight carrying planes were going down because the payload crews weren’t experienced enough to know how to properly load the planes to keep them properly balanced and also properly tied from moving around. There were also a few serious fires onboard that brought a few planes down. Now, the freight airlines use fireproof containers and the crews “must” be certified in payload balancing and containment. My wife was vehemently against me taking the job. I think the neighbors even heard her. I was just inquiring, but she didn’t want to hear it.


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## exwisehe (Mar 15, 2020)

In the first few years of my life we used the Sears catalog in our outhouse.


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## oldman (Mar 15, 2020)

exwisehe said:


> In the first few years of my life we used the Sears catalog in our outhouse.


Someone stated using “corncobs.” I had never heard of that. Wouldn’t that hurt? Yesterday, I was with an older gentleman and we were talking about how to get through tough times. He brought up the issue of using corncobs.

I remember my dad telling me stories of his days during WWII and they had just left England and arrived in France. First thing off the plane, they were allowed to use the latrines. Everyone going into one of the latrines was given only two sheets of tp. I told him that he had to be kidding. He told me no one kids about that. He also told me that guys were selling cigarettes for a quarter each. Today, that would be cheap.

BTW, talking about England, my dad said that he had the privilege of watching Churchill address the U.S. Troops right before they left for France. He said that he was very impressed with his short speech.


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## Red Cinders (Mar 15, 2020)

What gets me is that all of the people flooding into stores right now are walking into a crowded potential coronavirus breeding ground.  Just because so few have been tested doesn't mean that many don't already have the virus.  

I'm another who always has a good supply of staples on hand, but that's mostly because I'm sort of, well, cheap.  I buy when things we regularly use are on sale so always have a steady supply available.  Plus, I'm in Florida, and we're kind of used to always being prepared for hurricanes.

As for the toilet paper, I grew up on a farm and wouldn't recommend corn cobs.  Instead, I'd probably try a sort of poor woman's bidet -- a spray bottle with water.  Seeing all of the toilet paper hoarding, I'm sorry I dismissed buying a few shares of International Paper when I was looking last year.  Silly me, I thought that with everything going digital, there wouldn't be as much need for paper.


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## Sunny (Mar 15, 2020)

Before paper was invented?  Leaves, maybe?


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## Aunt Bea (Mar 15, 2020)

If times get tough we can always go to reusable cloth wipes it's really not much different than the days of diaper pails and cloth diapers.


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## Pete (Mar 15, 2020)

Pepper said:


> 20% with complications (including death) is a high number and a lot of humans behind that number.  Nothing to be scoffed at.


Definately nothing to scoff about considering I am definitely a target for the virus with a bad heart, COPD and a compromised immune system but way to much of depressing news out there it is good for those like me to see some humor once in a while.


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## Pete (Mar 15, 2020)

Aunt Bea said:


> If times get tough we can always go to reusable cloth wipes it's really not much different than the days of diaper pails and cloth diapers.


For decades before the toilet was invented people dealt with hygiene OK and though I do not think we have to we can always relearn those way of old.


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## chic (Mar 15, 2020)

Ladybj said:


> I'm still confused as to why people purchased sooooo much toilet tissue. We. always keep a pretty good supply to last for a while.  I want FOOD.  I can't eat toilet paper, nor does it kill viruses.  Don't get me wrong it serves it purpose..but hmmm  I'm sure people have their reasons. All the things the stores ran out of, I already have.. hand sanitizer, bottle water, toilet tissue, Lysol. I always keep these things on hand. Thank goodness.



Ditto @Ladybj. There was next to nothing left (healthy food) in the grocery store this morn. Will have to try again tomorrow. This is becoming exhausting.


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## debodun (Mar 15, 2020)




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## WhatInThe (Mar 15, 2020)

The thing that gets me is that the covid-19 is a respiratory virus not a stomach virus so why all the toilet paper. It should be boxes of tissues and bottles of cough medicine which I still see on the store shelves-not everywhere but they're more common and cheaper than one of those giagantor packages of tp.

I will say if one over or incorrectly does it with iboprofen, cough syrup or niquil that could lead to stomach issues which in turn will not only send one to the bowl several extra times but it will weaken them further and prolong any illness they get.


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## PopsnTuff (Mar 15, 2020)

A little humor to take the edge off


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## PopsnTuff (Mar 15, 2020)




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## Ladybj (Mar 15, 2020)

OneEyedDiva said:


> But when you eliminate that food, hopefully daily, how are you going to clean yourself if you've run out of toilet paper?


As one of my post stated... give me food and I will figure out the end result


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 16, 2020)

Ladybj said:


> As one of my post stated... give me food and I will figure out the end result


Well here's a solution for you if you do run out Ladybj. LOL


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