This happened in our summer - at the peak of the tourist season. We aren’t even taking temperatures at the airport. The number seems quite low all things considered.
We don't know just yet. You could be right and we could be completely screwed already. Maybe that is why the government is holding off in relation to a lockdown. Maybe they are just waiting to see how many more positive cases we record.
I assume you are implying that this could get a lot worse in winter and I agree.
My only point is let's hold off on the panic until we have facts but at the same let's all be really careful and practice social distancing, not hoarding food & toilet paper etc. In 2 weeks to a months time if we appear to have avoided the same trajectory that has occurred in other countries then we can reassess where we are at.
The handling of the cruise ship situation was extremely poor by the people that went ahead with their trip and the way the government handled releasing those people back into society. These people probably aren't the most socially aware and may be more likely to not practice self-isolation. Maybe every passenger released should have had enforced self-isolation in a government approved and funded facility.
No one is panicking.
People are simply assessing the facts as they come in and are trying to make logical conclusions as to what this means for them. On a psychological level, it's the only thing in their control. It's become evident over this period that health data is not a reliable measure of the immediate situation and we have many examples across the world to draw our conclusions from.
If you've ever studied economic crises in particular, you'll know that panic buying is a totally normal human reaction in these cases.
I keep hearing "you can't eat toilet paper" or "coronavirus doesn't make you go to the toilet" as reasons why toilet paper shortages are irrational.
People have missed the point. Nobody is buying because of that. It's that the people aren't stupid and they knew things would get worse. They didn't want to be lining up in queues with everyone else to get basic supplies.
They knew that with everyone home from work, and everyone buying at the same time, there would be nothing on the shelves anyway. Our supply chains are not designed to push products to stores fast enough for these one-off scenarios. It's inevitable you will have shortages of things that last a long time and/or have multiple uses - things that last a long time are, of course, not produced in our regular supply chains as quickly as perishable items. This is especially true when people are unclear as to how long they'll have to be at home.
Throughout history, the same items have been missing from shelves in times like this. Look up Venezuela...exactly the same products were in short supply as what we are experiencing here. This should come as no surprise.
