THE CORONAVIRUS may not have hit Fermanagh yet, but some here have already been swept up in the current craze for ‘panic buying’.
Local shops and supermarkets are currently working to keep up with demand and are managing to restock quite quickly, but many local shoppers have reported encountering empty shelves in recent times. Aside from the obvious hand wash, sanitiser, and soap, toilet roll in particular has been in high demand.
One local doctor questioned the logic behind the mass buying, especially since the virus has not actually spread here yet.
“I think we need to keep some perspective,” said Dr Brendan O’Hare. “There is a state of panic out there. The clearest sign of this is the purchase of toilet roll. This virus does not cause diarrhoea. People are like lemmings running around buying toilet roll. Why are they buying toilet roll?”
And certainly local people seem to be keeping a health perspective. Unlike in other parts of the country local shops appeared to be well stocked with toilet roll and other items deemed to be ‘essential’ and when our photographer visited Asda and Tesco in Enniskillen yesterday it appeared to be business as usual at both stores.
Meanwhile, Herald readers have been revealing how they are preparing for any potential Covid-19 outbreak in the county.
“I for one will be avoiding crowded places, so I’ll be not going to Mass for the foreseeable future,” said one local man.
“It is almost certain people will not be hygienic and won’t be thinking of others, so being in a vulnerable group I will be avoiding any kind of gathering, large crowds, and staying away from food that isn’t wrapped and touch doors with a cloth,” said another.
Another reader noted: “It appears to have made the country start washing their hands, given the panic buying of soap and hand sanitiser. One would have thought everyone should have been doing that regardless.”
Some other readers also questioned the panic buying: “I went into some of the shops and the shelves are bare, yet how many cases have been confirmed in Fermanagh?”
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