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2021-08-21

HIST30060: Family Texts

This is a screenshot of a family text conversation in August 2021. The mother, nicknamed “mrs matriarch” on the Facebook Messenger application, is relaying rumours of an intensification of the lockdown restrictions, including the involvement of the military. She also encourages the popular practice of hoarding or panic buying. This conversation encapsulates popular anxiety around the suddenness of government responses to the pandemic. The user alerts their family based on a rumour that the 8pm Victorian curfew would be moved earlier to 5pm. In hindsight, the 5pm curfew never eventuated. Instead, the 8pm curfew became 9pm, before it was later removed. The user’s fear that the military would be involved further shows the anxiety felt by Victorian residents and the sense of entrapment. The conversation also indicates the popular phenomenon of panic buying and hoarding. The text reads, “get whatever you need for today now” and “buy a bunch – we are heading for tighter restrictions in lockdowns,” even for a perishable item like strawberries. Rumours had a very real effect on the population, prompting atypical economic behaviours, including the infamous toilet paper hoarding. The low price of strawberries reported by the user also illustrates the strange supply and demand for groceries during the pandemic and excess of fruit that year.

2020-03

empty shelves

My plaque story begins in March 2020, right in the middle of my senior year of my senior year of high school. that day we were let out of school for, what we were told, 2 weeks. One of my friends was away at a baseball camp that night and he had left his car in our school parking lot so me and my friends decided to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of Saran Wrap, and Saran Wrap his car. At this point the amount that the pandemic would affect our lives hadn't sank in yet but when we got to the grocery store to buy the wrap we saw a very surreal sight. Hundreds of people were there wearing masks and gloves, and even goggles. People were buying canned food and toilet paper in mass quantities and there were numerous empty shelves. It looked like something out of a movie and that's when it began to sink in how crazy the situation was. that same week I remember going hiking with a couple of my friends and talking about the pandemic. I remember us wondering if anyone that we knew would end up getting the virus or if it would fizzle out before it hit Pennsylvania and if or when we would go back to school to finish our senior year. It turned out that we would never go back and "two weeks to slow the spread" turned into months and then years. It is now February 2022 and our lives are still being turned upside down by this pandemic. All we can do now is hope that things eventually return to normal and that we as humans can learn from the mistakes made during this pandemic.

2021-12-01

Take One Please!

This pandemic has been an eye-opening experience as to how reactionary humans are during times of need. Variations of this sign have been placed around my university’s campus in the hopes that people will stop taking handfuls of masks and will only take one (i.e., what is needed). It is odd how this theme of greed has echoed throughout the last two years. The same people preaching to “be a decent human being during unprecedented times” will hoard basic necessities and stockpile their garage with hand sanitizer and paper towels. It is unfortunate that pandemics can sometimes bring out the worst people. Hopefully, 2022 will be different.

2021-10-12

Mekenna Miller Oral History, 2021/10/12

This is a personal reflection about how fear is an unavoidable consequence of pandemics.

2020-06-09

Toilet Paper Panic

This image demonstrates the panic-buying of toilet paper at a Walmart store in Katy, Texas. Attached to the shelves there are signs limiting customers to one pack. However, the customers had taken the toilet paper so quickly there had been no time to remove empty boxes. I'm not sure anyone predicted or fully understood the obsession of toilet paper hoarding at the beginning of the pandemic. Yet, it is one item that I continue to buy often to keep a stock in my garage. I think that internal panic of hoarding toilet paper is something that will always stick with me. It is a piece of the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020-05-22

Lining up to Shop

This image shows a line outside of a Walmart in Katy, Texas. During the spring and summer of 2020, I would make it part of my routine to visit the grocery store at 7:00am every Friday morning. People would line up outside of the doors waiting for them to open. It was too early for anyone to talk. I'm sure people rather not talk to one another because we were to remain 6 feet apart-- with duct tape lines suggested on the sidewalk. Plus, standing in the southeast Texas humidity made us all melt under the masks. Once the doors opened, people would grab a cart and rush in. From there, it would be a race to the back of the store where the water, toilet paper, milk, and paper towels were stored. However, my prize was disinfectant wipes. The cleaning aisle was my first stop every Friday morning. Very rarely would I get lucky and any Clorox or Lysol wipes would be on the shelves. Today, I have about a dozen containers on a shelf in my garage... and I continue to buy more.

2021-09-21

Marc Carolla and Niccola Lutri Oral History, 2021/09/21

Marc and Níccola talk about their personal experiences win COVID-19 and quarantine discussing family, mental health, and personal anecdotes.

2020-03-17

Your Coronavirus Shopping List: What to Buy and What to Skip

A blog postfrom the Banner Health Blog about what people should buy after the WHO declared a pandemic.

2020

Humorous memes about coronavirus

During quarantine I collected many humorous memes about staying at home and the problems that brought. All sorts of subjects were covered: cooking, getting along with your spouse/roommates, homeschooling the kids, learning to bake bread, being stuck at home, sanitizing, facemasks, people hoarding toilet paper, boredom, effects of isolation, etc. Here are a few of those memes.

2020

Humorous memes about toilet paper during corona

During quarantine I collected many humorous memes about staying at home and the problems that brought. All sorts of subjects were covered: cooking, getting along with your spouse/roommates, homeschooling the kids, learning to bake bread, being stuck at home, sanitizing, facemasks, people hoarding toilet paper, boredom, effects of isolation, etc. Here are a few of those memes.

2020-03-20

The Signal of Approaching Silence

On Friday, March 20, 2020, I was grocery shopping at Hy-Vee in Canton, Illinois when my mobile phone pinged with an alert from a local news app: the Illinois governor had officially issued a stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Rumors of the impending order had been circulating for the past few days. I teach English at Canton High School, and we were scheduled to start a week of Spring Break that Friday. That morning the principal had cautioned us to take home our computers and any teaching materials that we might need, just in case we did not return to school after Break. So, the text message confirmed a stark reality. Talk of the stay-at-home order overtook the conversations of shoppers around me. People were speculating about what would come next, now that schools and businesses would be closed. I remember passing the meat counter where I overheard the department manager taking a phone call from a gentleman who wanted to place an apocalypse-sized order of beef. This is it, I thought to myself, trying to figure out what kind of groceries to buy that would sustain my family over for an indefinite period of time, because even though the stay-at-home order was for just two weeks, I had a sinking suspicion we were not going to best Covid-19 in two weeks’ time. I began pushing my cart up and down the aisles faster, a little more frantically, in response to a burgeoning awareness that the virus could already be circulating within our community. Looking back now, I see that we were somewhat cocooned in Fulton County, Illinois, a mostly rural county. The health department announced the first positive case on April 10; the first death occurred on October 21. The virus was slow to take a foothold, but eventually it did. In late July, our school district’s board unanimously voted to start the school year fully remote. Each school day, teachers reported to ghost-town school buildings and holed up in their empty classrooms, with admonitions from administrators not to co-mingle with each other. During that time, I dutifully logged onto Google Meets for each class period, where various avatars greeted me because students were not required to turn on their cameras, so none did. Sometimes I got to hear tinny student voices, which sounded a lot further away than across town, and I wondered if each voice matched the person I pictured in my mind’s eye. I had never met the majority of my students in person, and the photographs on our school’s student management system had not been updated since the fall of 2019. I remember the frustration I struggled to keep capped when I would call on students and be met with silence. Were they even sitting by the computer? Were they afraid to say something in front of their classmates, lest they look stupid? Were they just willfully ignoring me? Were they okay, physically and mentally? I pulled more words out of students through written assignments and chat boxes than through Google Meets. Although part of the student body returned to in-person school in January of 2021 while the rest remained remote by choice (we taught both groups concurrently), it was still difficult to get students to speak, even to each other. Sadly, many of our students had become so accustomed to the idea of school as a radio broadcast—one from which they could easily disengage if they so wished—that they no longer felt it necessary to contribute their voices. In Illinois, we’ve been told that all students will return to in-person learning in the fall of 2021, with few exceptions, but I fear the virus has done irrevocable damage to our students’ speech.

2020-03-13

Last Costco run before shutdown

It was two days after the NBA had shut down and the first day our school district had shut down. Not sure about what was to come next (and honestly pretty scared to go) I took on last trip to Costco to buy supplies for the lockdown of unknown duration that was about to begin. The scene was chaos, with the lines running the full length of the store. The most eerie part, though, was someone who decided to “play us off” in a sort of Titanic-style farewell to our old life. Having endured the line for longer than I can remember, I chose to record the moment (which I felt would be one to remember.

2021-06-02

'A Journal of the Plague Year' relevant 300 years after publication

During the pandemic, I took a graduate history course in which we read Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of a Plague Year.' I had read the piece about 5 years before, but I missed so many of its nuances because it all seemed so foreign. It was striking to me both how much and how little has changed from 1665 to 2020/21. Quarantine, death tolls, travel bans, hoarding had all suddenly become commonplace occurrences that I could relate to. The centuries may have changed our technology drastically, but nothing seems to have changed about the human condition nor the human spirit.

2020-03-19

Toilet paper being cleared out dubbed with Walking Dead zombie noises

A video meme making fun of the panic buying of toilet paper in march of 2020. Appears to be a Costco. Dubbed with zombie noises from The Walking Dead. I feel its important for videos of these events to be preserved as well as the social/ popular response to events like panic buying

2021-01-26

COVID

Luckily i have not been affected as much from COVID such as deaths. The only really bad thing that has happened to me was my uncle getting Corona and that was it. He only had mild symptoms for a couple of days and that was it. Now he's immune from COVID for a couple more months and then he has to start distancing again. Living through this pandemic really sucked though. I couldn't see any friends, I couldn't really go outside and everyone was panicking about the toilet paper and started buying toilet paper in bulk. It caused anxiety in many people and doing school online was just about the longest worst thing I've ever had to go through. Other than online school and staying inside, it was fine. I mean I got to play video games, sleep, and I did some workouts at home to figure out my record for Olympic type weights. Covid really affected my life and more so bad than good though.

2021-01-24

Grabbing for Groceries

Grocery shopping is part of nearly everyone’s life. We’re used to going into a store at most hours of the day and night and finding what we need. Many of us eat out quite often so don’t stockpile food supplies at home and don’t cook at home very often. So grocery shopping pre-pandemic was a relatively easy and boring task. With the pandemic came restaurant closures and restrictions and people started eating at home more often. People started buying greater quantities of food and other grocery items (particularly toilet paper!), which led to shortages and quotas on the purchase of particular items. The grocery store became somewhat of a combat zone, with people battling each other for items and viewing others as the enemies who either were going to steal their food or give them the virus. The entire grocery shopping experience changed precipitously for most individuals and reflected a major shift in how society acquires and shares its food.

2020-03-13

covid

When covid first came out, it was a really small issue. No one immediately required social distancing measures and we were continuing life as normal. I was told that it was only in China, and the likely cause was someone eating a bat. However, as it got to the US, cases quickly escalated and everything shut down, taking sanitizer and toilet paper off the shelves and destroying small businesses. I was scared, but I knew I wasn't going to die. When school got off I thought the virus would go away in 2-4 weeks. Now the cases keep escalating, and it is January 2021. I am way more serious about social distancing now, having learned the impact of following the rules and the terror covid nurses go through. Looking back on myself in march, I feel stupid because I had no idea what was coming. I feel like this was a year of karma, learning, and self-growth and improvement.

2020-12-10T10:52:28

My Life Before Covid and How I Found Out

My life before Covid-19 was going very well. I was traveling for competitions and doing sports, actually going to school in person normally, and I was able to see the rest of my family. I was very happy, and then everything began to fall apart. Back in January, I found out about the virus, and how it was in China. Everybody thought that it was a joke and we would all laugh when someone talked about it, but we never thought that it would spread to the USA, or cause an emergency global pandemic. I was actually at a competition the weekend before everything shut down, completely unaware of what was about to happen. We got home from the competition and the next day at school, I began to hear that other schools were shutting down and canceling school temporarily. That is when it all hit me. Our school was shutting down, stores were shutting down, restaurants were shutting down, everything was closed, and I thought that the world was ending. Who knew that right after coming back from a normal competition and a regular life that everything was changing. I definitely didn’t. The worst and funniest part about everything shutting down in an emergency rush, was the outage of toilet paper. Everyone was stalking up on toilet paper, for a reason I am not aware of, causing almost all stores and online websites to be completely out of it. People began to panic for this reason, and that is when people began to hoard things like dry foods, toilet paper, water, and that is when getting essential items became a huge struggle. Everyone basically had to fight to get the things they needed. Covid-19 changed the whole world, and it was definitely not expected.

A picture of toilet paper for sale at a Walmart.

2020-04-27

Toilet Paper Shortage During Pandemic

While many of us living through the pandemic understand the meaning behind this photo, future generations may not. This photograph was taken by a Walmart employee when his store had received a shipment of toilet paper. During this time of the pandemic, toilet paper was a hot commodity and would not stay stocked on the shelves because so many people were buying it. Although this is not an item that we may think of as essential during a pandemic, toilet paper was difficult to come by and the employees had put this out on the floor as soon as it had come off of the truck. Before they could put the item on the shelves, people had already grabbed it from the pallet.

2020-10-08

Cursed year, Covid era 2020

I would say its pretty safe to assume that the majority of us were unfazed the very first time we heard of a virus breakout in wuhan, even though having played the mobile game Plague Inc. you would know that because of the dense population distribution china & india are two of the best places for a virus to start from. I would say other than the zombie movie like “leaked” videos that surfaced on social media no one really took it seriously until about march. That’s when I want to say the real pandemic fear started to creep in, there were multiple new cases showing up everywhere around the world, this is when things really started to get crazy, to begin with there was a weird shortage of toilet paper worldwide, not only that but grocery stores were a nightmare, it was the prepare for an apocalypse. People lost all sense of rational thinking & started hoarding food in a very animalistic selfish way. For a whole month everytime you go grocery shopping the shelves were almost empty, drinking water was scarce ,finding toilet paper was almost impossible. Personally as a 20 year old fit healthy male that wasn’t surrounded by any family or elders in the area I couldn’t care less If I got it, I was naïve& selfish for thinking that way, I had just suffered the lost of close friend to a car accident so I wasn’t in the best headspace. months go by… and I received news that three of my uncles & aunts got it, it was during that time that school was turning to online classes & terrible would be an understatement for my academic performance at the time, I was very busy & too into my head that a couple days went by & I got a follow up news that my uncles actually passed away, he was one of the kindest souls to me & I cannot think of one bad memory of him, yet I felt a void , I wasn’t sad nor that I cried & that in a way did more damage , It was just the countless deaths around me this year that had me completely numb emotionally, it just all felt so unreal, more than that is the long distance & not being able to travel back to comfort my dad through his hardship was the hardest part. To God we belong and to God we shall all return إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ‎, On a more positive note my cousin said on her birthday “I am not counting this year in my age because I didn’t use it”.

2020

Journal From the Year 2053. Humor

This one will appeal to all historians. It is written like an opening paragraph in a serious literary work which makes it funnier. The joke is about all the hoarding of the toilet paper that went on when Coronavirus first hit. Finally, 33 years later, the last of the toilet paper stash is about to be used up.

2020

There Are Two Kinds of People in This World

This is a meme showing the two types of people in this world--those that buy and hoard toilet paper and those that are happy buying a case of Corona beer. Obviously, this is a pun on the name of the Coronavirus.

03/30/2020

Al Bailey Oral History, 2020/03/30

Al Bailey grew up in the Midwest. He joined the Navy and worked on nuclear submarines for six years, has a degree in nuclear physics, worked in many nuclear power stations, and has been retired several times. He is an avid collector of paper money, enjoys ham radio, and is planning to go to law school this August. He has been married twice and has five children. Al and his wife Sara Bailey are currently living in Florence, Kentucky, with their youngest daughter Melanie. Sara is working in Kentucky at a chemical plant and is currently not required to stay home. Al’s life has been filled with many interesting events and experiences from his time in the military to 9/11 and more. In this interview, he reflects on current events related to COVID-19 and its political implications as well as how he and his family are handling the social distancing and isolation.

2020

The Coronavirus Diaries: An account of the coronavirus 2020 pandemic from the perspective of a 14 year old

This was the perspective of the coronavirus at the beginning from a younger unbiased person.

2020-03-17

Costco Lines Are Outta Control!

When the pandemic hit, and even just before, people ran to the stores and cleared out all the cleaning supplies, bottled water, hand sanitizer, canned food, rice and beans, rubbing alcohol, toilet paper, and paper towels. Costco is a big membership warehouse store with large quantities and good prices, so people flocked there. This video is typical of all of Southern California's Costco lines. The lines circled around the entire 150,000 square foot store! We watched the news footage in amazement. Shot by journalist @mrmarkpotts for the LA Times. I cut off the last few minutes and sped it up to 250%, but it took him 7 minutes to walk down the line. The apocalypse was surely nigh!

2020-06-05

Stay at home to fight cornavirus

When I have heard covid 19 is coming and will be spread in the world, I tried my best to hoard supplies, including toilet papers, foods, seasonings and some daily necessities. When I saw the news from website in America, I think it must be joke that president Trump's sayings. From the local news of China, i have deeply understood the urgency and destruction of covid 19. I tried my best to talk to my friends and prepared to face the challenge of covid 19. Afterwards, I shared some stories of Wuhan and told them how to protect themselves. I really admired the spirits of medical staffs and their ambitions to fight against virus. That power gave me a strong movement to live well and protect myself. Under the huge disaster, we need have our own judge and do not only listen to somone's sayings. “Nip in the bud!" Try to listen more about experience that people around you.

2020-02

The High Price of food during the coronavirus lockdown in China

The virus crisis is testing China’s ability to feed its 1.4 billion people, one of the Communist Party’s proudest achievements. Cooped up at home and fearful that the epidemic could last weeks or even months, families across China are hoarding provisions, making it harder for shops and supermarkets to keep fresh food in stock. Many places have closed off roads to passing traffic, slowing truck shipments and raising freight costs.

2020-04-04

Hoarding in the USA? Coronavirus sparks consumer concerns

Supermarket shelves were stripped bare and videos posted on social media showed consumers coming to blows over bags of pasta.

An Instagram post with an image of a cartoon of two people with several bags of food and text that says "Are you breaking the law? Patriotic Canadians will not horde food". The caption discusses the poster's thoughts on food hoarding.

2020-03-16

Food Hoarding Then and Now Thoughts

A post in which a university student reflects on the historical precedents and potential of current events. The accompanying caption reads: "As a History student, I can’t help but think that we will look back at what is currently happening in the world and we will feel gravely disappointed in ourselves for the selfishness many seem to have during this pandemic. For those who know me, you know I love to study propaganda and food has always played an extremely important role in propaganda and I couldn’t help but think of these two posters while hearing about everything that is happening right now. The authors of @humansofny have compared COVID-19 to a world war, calling it this generation’s world war. This will be the defining conflict of our generation and we have the power to determine how we appear one hundred years from now. We can choose to hoard essentials that everyone needs, or we can try to make sure everyone gets enough. Please. Be responsible when you shop. Be selfless during times like this. We are only as strong as our weakest link and in times like these we must do everything to protect that weak link in our society. Be kind. Be patient. We can get through this together."

2020-03-25

There Are Two Types of People in this World

This is a funny meme poking fun at the toilet paper/paper towel hoarding vs the guy who just wants to drink his Corona beer. They are at the checkout line with their goods.

2020-04-05

Neighbors prepare for surge. 2 of 2 - Scituate, MA

Image of food pantry stocked with fruits, vegetables, munchies, sweets and wine, after new warning from Gov. Baker.

2020-04-05

Neighbors prepare for surge. 1 of 2 - Scituate, MA

Image of cleaning/disinfectant supplies in stock for home use, after new warning from Gov. Baker.

2020-05-01

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

Collection of photos of various signs regarding coronavirus safety in local parks and stores. A marker of the disruption of our lives and a dedication to protecting our citizens. April 15-May 1

Empty shelves and baskets in a supermarket.

2020-04-23

Missing foods

While pandemic is going on, there are many people who end up buying more than the amounts that they need for themselves. This then leaves families who are in actual need to not have something healthy to provide for their families. #REL101

2020-03-17

F*** the Corona, Gotty Boi Chris, New Orleans, LA

New Orleans bounce artist Gotty Boi Chris released the song "F*** the Corona" in March 2020. Lyrics describe shortages in stores resulting from panic buying due to the stay-at-home order.

2020-03

Greed causes the Caos

As the news outlets and the media flood fear into the public eye, greed and human nature show their true colors. Mid-March 2020

2020-04-25

Corona Virus Grocery Meme

This picture is a perfect depiction of the unnecessarily extreme measures some Americans are taking during grocery shopping, i.e. covering up abundantly, stocking up on toilet paper, etc. This humor is more targeted at making fun of the ignorance of some people.

2020-04-12

Ghost Towns

In the first few weeks of this pandemic, every grocery store was bustling with no food available and low storage of cleaning supplies. This week, things took a turn for the worse and are kind of creepy. Browsing through the nearest Walmart with my mother, we noticed it was actually extremely quite in the store. When we started paying attention, there was almost noone in the store, the emptiest I have ever seen a Walmart. When we did see someone, they would kind of scurry off in order to keep their distance. Me and my family understand the situation in all but it appears that some people are taking this entire thing way to far as to be afraid to even be seen in public.

A meme that says "Post coronavirus males, displaying their hunter gatherer prowess in order to attract mates" with men wearing toilet paper as head dresses.

2020-04-10

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