I've been keeping my finger on the ‘panic pulse’ in my area and noted today the pace to ‘get ready’ was up. I think the Presidents speech to the nation on prime time this week had peoples attention and therefore shoppers and traffic was unusually busy today. And there has been zero cases of the virus here so far.
Clerks commented how busy they were, and the Pharmacy people had to bring in more clerks for the days shifts. She said it was 'crazy busy' with people filling perscriptions...
I could not find any Pharmacy or Box stores that had any themometers left after calling .... But found 'Ollies' had a full rack plus. A store similiar to Big Lots. Wal-mart here was out of toilet paper with people telling other people where they could still find it at other stores.
I also noted a lot of elderly people shopping alone...I didn't see panic but people were definately on a mission to get prepared.
My wife just came back from her CVS shift (N. CT).
_Very_ busy for a Thursday night. Folks buying everything in sight. The regular locals plus a bunch of people she had never seen before.