Covid – Why panic-buying puts you more at risk

There has been a tendency to panic buy.

Well, actually, there has been panic buying. Like never before.

The shelves are empty.

Bread, flour, milk, beans; gone.

There is plenty of all of this to go around in the factories, the change of behaviour over the past couple of days has been something we call in Quality Improvement, a ‘Special Cause Variation’ – when the statistics go awry. This in turn has affected supply chains.

There is still plenty of bread, flour and beans in the UK.

What is the risk?

The risk, now, is, if you continue to hoard and accumulate unnecessarily, that is, go to the shops when you don’t absolutely need to, people who don’t have this option – often older people and the chronically ill will not get food, become more unwell and risk placing increased pressure on health and social care, making the hospitals and doctors we all rely on less effective and efficient (blocked phones, more people in A&E) and, you are exposing yourself and others (your family, mum, dad, friends) to  Covid.

If you have no bread and you need a loaf, go and buy one; keep your 2-meter distance from other people, go in and out of the shop quickly, wash your hands when you come back in the house.

That’s it.