Corona Virus...I live in Australia, nobody's even talking about it much

[FortunesFave]

And we don't have a shortage of hand sanitizer or face masks...nobody seems bothered.

There have been 31 cases in Australia as far as I know...and compared to the UK's 51, that's high considering how small the population in Oz is.

I'm curious as to why nobody here is panicking....I'm not seeing posts on Facebook about it among my Aussie fb friends but I am from my UK fb friends....

I have a friend in Perth who says everyone is panic buying, etc. He’s usually quite sensible but seems to be getting caught up in the need to be anxious about it all!

I don’t give a shit about this coronavirus but when I entered my local Tesco today and they were OUT OF BANANAS I saw red.
Stop clowning around Tesco, I want bananas tomorrow!

I'm in Sydney,

Tbh I haven't been too worried until now, but there have been some confirmed person to person cases in the last couple of days. Before then it was very much happening elsewhere.

I expect the cases will multiply rapidly and given our proximity to China and high number of Asian population I thought it would have happened sooner.

The companies I work for are taking travel restrictions very seriously.

I saw this morning that woolies is restricting toilet roll purchases as of today

Hopping I'll never understand why people here knock Adelaide so much. It's ignorant as hell. The place is frigging beautiful and the people are too. It's terribly unimaginative to take the piss out of S.A. when residents feel lucky as anything to live here.

I had no idea about the toilet paper issues! I haven't had any problems at all. Our shops have plenty.

Yeah it all seems a bit weird. Also in Adelaide and the shops were all as normal...

righto adelaide is a backwater? Sigh....
We live in a area frequented by many many tourists... think wine... hand sanitizer is very difficult to come by now. Cellar doors are doubling down on hygiene. We are at the height of harvest which usually brings many overseas workers and students, many of us also travel OS frequently (esp, china, HK and Singapore) for work. A major wine event being held on sat has been cancelled, a friends husband is on 14 days self isolations after returning from a work trip.
To say people aren't worried or panicking...maybe it's just not showing up in your Facebook feed or evident in the well stocked surburban supermarkets. Plenty of us are concerned about the immediate and long term effects of this virus.

Also all the flippant and snide comments about adelaide, backwater etc... it gets so bloody tired.

Not to knock Adelaide, but I'm In Sydney and it's definitely front of mind here. Shops yesterday sold out of toilet paper, pasta, rice and flour. Not sure if people see going to make their own bread?

On a national level, my company has advised employees in every major city to take computers home in case the office is suddenly closed in a quarantine situation.

7/10 of the top ten stories on the ABC's website are about Corona Virus. I don't think it's a regional thing. You might just be fortunate that your friends aren't obsessing about it.

I'm in Perth and its definitely the main topic of conversation. My local pharmacy has a sign saying they are out of face masks and hand sanitizer, and people are definitely stocking up, especially on loo roll, bread, etc. I work for a multinational, and all non-essential air travel was halted two weeks ago, including domestic flights. So its definitely a big thing.

Ha!
Go into Aldi today and try and buy some toilet rolls. The shelves were bare in my local one! Some people starting to panic, apparently.

I'm in Sydney and agree with pp, it's definitely top of mind here. Everyone is talking about it, it's the top headlines on our news pages such as the ABC (national broadcaster) and the Australian Guardian site. Not sure about the Murdoch rags as I don't read them. PM, health minister and chief medical officer doing near daily press conferences about the situation.

Many people have been stocking up but panic buying started yesterday, I believe spurred on by photos shared from Italy of empty shelves.

The panic buying is being reported on, many photos and videos being shared of people grabbing toilet paper and empty shelves. As mentioned above, major supermarket (woolworths) today announced tp will be limited to 4 packs per person.

Really? Its the talk everywhere, shelves are being empited of toilet paper and tissues, rice, flour, sugar.....

I'm seeing a lot of empty shelves here as well: toilet roll, hand sanitiser, pasta, sauce, gin which has me , rice, tinned food is just not possible unless it's gross kind no one eats. It's been difficult to stock up so I started buying online. I am trying to put stuff aside in the event of pandemic. These are scary times.

I’m in Sydney. It’s a big deal here. I’m surprised to hear it is quiet elsewhere in Australia but I guess the city population size will impact how much of a risk it really is.

I saw a photo today, of a big hefty guy in a Los Angeles supermarket, He was walking out of the store,with 500 hundred toilet rolls,and two large packs of beer !

I live in a town south of Perth and our local Woolworths had sold out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer as of yesterday. Lots of people discussing it, although half of the people are not particularly concerned. I am surprised that it is a non issue in SA as it is normally WA that is called wait a while

I’m in Central Queensland and no one is panic buying here.
Now if a cyclone was coming there would be no bread or milk anywhere

However people are stockpiling loo roll. I’m not quite sure why. Covid19 doesn’t cause diarrhoea so it proves that people are stupid.

I’m in Australis and my local shops all sold out of toilet paper yesterday with people panic buying! I’m hoping they have more stock today as I actually need some 🤣

I have 2 friends in Australia, in different states and both have posted pictures today of empty supermarket shelves

Anyone can find a picture of an empty shelf, and claim that people are panic buying. I'm in Oz, in Brisbane, and my local supermarket is just the same as ever. All shelves are fully stocked.

And why would people stockpile loo paper anyway ? Corona virus is a chest infection for heavens sake, not a bowel infection. If people want to panic buy, surely tissues would be the go ?

There is a little bit about the virus on the news, but nothing too dramatic. Today the news was only about the fact that the Olympic Games is still going ahead. Ho hum .

I'm in Sydney. At work we have a new travel policy, signage up in our office, updates from building management, and work from home is an option for anyone who feels at risk (in addition to the self isolation for travelers).
There are posts about it on the parents Facebook group I'm on and our daughters daycare is consistently reviewing and updating their exclusion policy to reflect the situation. Still masks and hand sanitizer available that I have come across.
DH's work are much lax- work from home if you want/need and follow the au/NSW guidelines for self isolation.
We have a stocked pantry based on our experience of regular flu last year when we were too ill to leave the house for almost three weeks and have moved our super funds to a super conservative option for the next few months.
But nones really talking about it except in a joking way....

It’s crazy where we are. We’re near a small country town in the Hunter Valley, NSW (user name is a bit of a clue!!) and there are no toilet rolls, tissues or hand sanitisers anywhere in town. The youngest child works in the local Reject Shop and they’re out of all the above and Glen20 too.

The uni campus is very quiet (no Chinese students on site atm) and they’re having to suspend their minimum attendance requirements as so many students are self isolating and can’t get sick notes from the GPS or pharmacists.

We’ve always been somewhat of a prepping family but now the kids finally get why. It’s not because we’re paranoid but because we’re 30mins from town, in a bushfire/flooding prone immediate area we’re vulnerable to problems in the supply chain. That and the aircon in my car doesn’t work and I refuse to drive into town when it’s 48C.

Anyone can find a picture of an empty shelf, and claim that people are panic buying. I'm in Oz, in Brisbane, and my local supermarket is just the same as ever. All shelves are fully stocked

I am too. And I’ve just been to three seperate stores. All of which are completely out of toilet paper. Glad people around you are a little less hysterical than the ones around me.

People are stocking up in the event the gov declares a lock down. There seems to be a presumption amounts to many that home delivered groceries would still happen. I personally think that is optimistic.
I don't think the gov would lock down cities but I could imagine certain suburbs be restricted of movemen if the worse were to happen.
ABC is practically rolling coverage of coronavirus? Perhaps commercial networks are being a bit lax in reporting...

Also on the toilet paper side of things- we ran out a lot faster than I expected when we were sick with flu last year. I always try to keep back ups and yet we went through every tissue, toilet roll and paper towel we had before one of us was forced to traipse to the supermarket. The amount we used genuinely amazed me but our noses were never ending steams of green and we had bags and bags of used tissues/loo roll. So I kind of get the toilet paper stock piling