Portswood has run out of hand sanitiser due to coronavirus panic buying

If you have taken a trip to Portswood Sainsbury’s in the last few days you may have been met with scenes of panic as people were buying toilet roll and hand sanitiser by the trolley load.

Now unless you have been living under a rock, you would know that this is a result of the coronavirus: People are stockpiling, even though government ministers have literally told us not to.

Other than loo roll and hand sanitiser, other notable items that Portswood Sainsbury’s was lacking were feminine hygiene products, biscuits and pasta.

Looks like we’re getting fancy soap for the foreseeable future

I made a mission of finding some hand sanitiser in Portswood, out of curiosity. After trekking around Sainsburys, Superdrug, Boots and Poundland, I still found nothing and gave up. When I asked a member of staff in Superdrug she just laughed and said they are totally out of stock.

I’ve taken two trips to Portswood Sainsbury’s in the past three days. On Saturday I was faced with many manic people stockpiling some pretty random things.

Fruit and veg were filled with very minimal things, with one staff member saying: “Cucumbers and peppers seem to be the main favourite for people to bulk buy”. Another customer said: “What are they gonna do with them, fill up their entire freezer with just veg?!”.

And with that comment we watched a lady pick up a whole crate of peppers and put it in her trolley. Now I like peppers, but seriously?

Luckily a few more pads and tampons were available on my second trip

It is a questionable sight, and a worrying one at that. We are yet to understand the full impact of the virus outbreak but it seems that it is every man for himself when it comes to the general public.

Today my housemate proceeded to express her anger at the situation, saying: “I think people are overreacting and need to calm down. Did people just not wash their hands before coronavirus?!”

Which is also a notable point to make. The government have been pushing guides on how to wash your hands: That’s great, given washing your hands is in fact quite a good habit to have, but my concern is the reaction to this.

At least people can still dunk a biscuit in their tea

Several people have expressed outrage to the thought of washing their hands for at least 20 seconds. But is this not something we were taught to do when we were under the age of five?

At the very least wash your hands – it is quite grim to think of people who don’t wash their hands at all after going to the toilet (trust me some questionable things happen in my shared bathroom).

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