While the map above was published at Business Insider in 2013, it makes a visual point of how clustered the population in the U.S. actually is in main hubs, big cities and counties, which in turn makes these hubs the perfect breeding ground for infection and contagion.
As we see more cities, like Seattle now, rushing to the stores and panic shopping, long lines and a large amount of people crowded in a small store, we shakes our heads in amazement because a store, crowded with people like sardines, is the last place anyone worried about contagion should be!
One would think that common sense would kick in at some point and people would shop in smaller stores, drive a little further to get to one, or order stuff to be delivered, then clean everything that could have been touched by a human off before bringing it into their homes, or any other method of getting what they need without surrounding themselves with other people.
But, it appears that common sense is not as common as it once was.
How do I know this? Well I can back up that statement with visuals.
Now, Seattle is in King County, Washington, which just so happens to be one those population cluster hubs listed by Business Insider, of the counties with the largest clusters in the country.
Showing that Seattle is not alone in having a significant amount of brainiacs (yes, that was snark!), look at Honolulu, Hawaii. Reports at the end of February show that people were "panic shopping" in Oahu, Hawaii, which is part of Honolulu county. That is also one of the population hubs that hold half of America's population, and Inouye International Airport, also known as Honolulu International Airport, is also on the list of airports accepting planes from China.
At Costco Iwilei, flatbeds were overflowing with boxes of canned goods, bottled water, toilet paper and paper towels. One shopper picked up all these things and more.
“The essentials toilet paper, paper towels, bottles of water, soap, a lot of clorox stuff, cleaning supplies. I figure with all the coronavirus scare and everything, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Honolulu resident Keane Zakimi.
For the record, Costco Iwilei is also in Honolulu.
While we agree 100% that it is better to be safe than sorry, it is not safe to be in crowded areas, nor places where "panic" shoppers are converging on, nor large stores in cities that are allowing flights from China to land.
It is understood that some do not have the option of traveling too far to pick up items they may need for the possibility they may want to self-quarantine, but in that case, if given a choice between being where everyone else is, and just ordering and having everything delivered, I would choose delivery every, single time. Open the packaging outside, wipe down the product with anti-bacterial cleaner and/or wipes, and keep away from places where large crowds are gathering.
Avoid movie theaters, bowling alleys, big cities, unless you live/work in one and do not have a choice, or any place where people gather. Planes, cruise ships, trains? No, No, and NO. The last thing anyone should do is pack themselves into any contained area with hundreds of other people.
STORE SHORTAGES - EXCLUSIVE IMAGES
Reader R1rippin left a comment on Tuesday, attaching a number of exclusive, original images taken at a local Walmart in Colorado. The message he sent with the photos, was: "The thing we need to remember is, our normal everyday/week grocery shopping is now over, this is not going to go away. Bad crop season last year, we're not even into crop growing this year, food shortages are coming our way! Here is our local Walmart in Commierado!"
If that is a smaller town's local Walmart, then food, cleaning supplies and other basic necessities are going to be very scarce, very soon. Remember also that Walmart generally carries a ton of products made in China, so those too will start disappearing.
READERS: ANP will take any images readers wish to submit and periodically use them in shortage articles as we start to see how widespread this becomes. Email images to: [email protected] or [email protected].
For those in larger areas that do not want to be anywhere near a store right now, Amazon does still have the items we see missing in the images above.
Toilet Paper, in bulk, still delivering within the week:
The second image appears to be of empty water shelves. So far we haven't see countries or states here in the U.S. lose their water services because of the Coronavirus, but always good to have extra water in case of any other type of event that may affect the water supply.
While the last image shows totally empty shelves, seeing what is left on the shelves next to the empties, we are looking at a run on cleaning supplies other than bleach.
(NOTE - Many of the cleaning products we have previously linked to, now says "currently unavailable," with a note stating "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." )
We have found products that are still available right now, listed below.
Before I could hit publish on this, ANP received another image from a reader, of disinfectant wipes, stating "Low on Clorox/store brand wipes at King Soopers."
Another empty shelves image looks like the pasta shelf. Being there is such a variety, we will link to just the general "pasta" page, most of which seems to still be available, along with Rice and Beans.
Stay safe, stay away from large hubs of population. Be ready, just in case.
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