
Several countries have already imposed mass quarantines. Some are reacting to the lack of a clear direction from officials “Special danger needs special precautions.” “When people are told something dangerous is coming, but all you need to do is wash your hands, the action doesn’t seem proportionate to the threat,” he said. When people hear conflicting messages about the risk it poses and how seriously they should prepare for it, they tend to resort to the extreme, Taylor said. The novel coronavirus scares people because it’s new, and there’s a lot about it that’s still unknown. “We can prepare without panicking.”įissures widen between White House and health agencies over coronavirus “On the one hand, understandable, but on the other hand it’s excessive,” Taylor, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, told CNN. And compared to past pandemics, the global response to the novel coronavirus has been one of widespread panic. Steven Taylor is a clinical psychologist and author of “The Psychology of Pandemics,” which takes a historic look at how people behave and respond to pandemics. People resort to extremes when they hear conflicting messages So why are people buying up rolls more quickly than they can be restocked?

It’s not considered a staple of impending emergencies, like milk and bread are. Why? Toilet paper does not offer special protection against the virus. Grocery stores in Australia have hired security guards to patrol customers.Īn Australian newspaper went so far as printing eight extra pages in a recent edition – emergency toilet paper, the newspaper said, should Aussies run out. Some supermarkets in the UK are sold out. Retailers in the US and Canada have started limiting the number of toilet paper packs customers can buy in one trip. Now, novel coronavirus panic buyers are snatching up … toilet paper?
