• Question: why do people panic buy because of coronavirus

    Asked by anon-250360 on 13 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-250570.
    • Photo: Nathan Kindred

      Nathan Kindred answered on 13 Mar 2020:

      I think it’s mainly them worrying that if the virus spreads more then either shops will close or food/products won’t be produced as much anymore. This is very, very unlikely though as countries keep stocks of things for situations like this.

    • Photo: M S

      M S answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      Because they probably think that we may go under quarantine and therefore need to stock up. However, right now its a lot of manic and frenzy

    • Photo: Kate Mitchell

      Kate Mitchell answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      I’m not a psychologist or a behavioural scientist so I don’t study this – but I think its partly so that they can feel in control of an uncertain situation, and partly because they see other people doing it so think they should be too.

    • Photo: Ioana Grigoras

      Ioana Grigoras answered on 17 Mar 2020:

      I think they are scared, because they don’t know how long this situation will last for and they aren’t reassured that the shops will still have enough products for everyone in a couple of months.

    • Photo: Sophie Arthur

      Sophie Arthur answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      I think it’s because it is an uncertain situation. Especially as things are changing quickly every day. People who panic buy are most likely worried that they won’t be able to leave the house at some point and then they want to make sure they have enough food to see them through.

      But in my opinion, if the government put restrictions on the country that we all must stay indoors, there will have to be a way for people to get food and other everyday things. We won’t be left with nothing.

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