Stockpiling toilet paper, what else?

Imagine going to the store, just hearing the news of the pandemic, worrying about what you will need such as food, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and maybe even a mask, but seeing all of the shelves completely empty.

In the beginning of the pandemic, people were buying all sorts of things to have during the pandemic. Although some people were branching out to buy the necessary supplies that would be needed for the pandemic, others were simply stockpiling on toilet paper.

This was strange to many people since toilet paper seems to be one of the least needed things during a pandemic. Now, cleaning supplies in general are important and necessary to have but nobody needs 1000 rolls of toilet paper.

One year after the pandemic, stockpiling has subsisted, but not disappeared entirely.

“What we find important when we go shopping has largely remained the same except for one thing, we had already prioritized food, snacks and other household items but we’ve also definitely been buying way more disinfectants than we would pre-pandemic,” says junior Jonathan Sanchez

Although this was strange, the main issue here isn’t toilet paper itself, it’s the stockpiling of supplies that was the problem.

Left and right, people were filling up their shopping carts with so much food, water and of course toilet paper, to the point where almost nothing was left for other people to buy.

“I think the fear was understandable because of limited information about the situation, but was still bad because of them not considering people with disabilities also trying to get food,” says junior Alfredo Ascencio.

It seems that the problem here is that people were just buying everything that they could without considering the fact that there were many others who were also in need of food and other things. They were buying without a plan or thinking of what was actually necessary for the pandemic.

The reason as to why people were doing this could be because of fear and panic. It could also be because many didn’t want to get out during the pandemic for something simple like toilet paper.

Whatever the case may be, it is important to understand that there are a lot of people out there who need things more than others. It is much helpful that in these types of situations people be more considerate and thoughtful about the decisions they make that could affect people.

“We only go out for food if necessary or like if we want to make something and there isn’t any food at home,” says 14-year-old, Elizabeth Francisco.

Though the pandemic has been going on for nearly a year, these occurrences are still happening today. As the pandemic continues, we as a community need to start making good decisions that are not only beneficial to ourselves but to others, too.