In the days before the Wuhan coronavirus hit America hard, widespread alarm ensued. This expressed itself most obviously in the flocking to supermarkets. Shelves were depleted of their contents, with a few items—such as hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and Lysol products—becoming prized and scarce. Of all the things dear to American civilization, toilet paper became the leitmotif of the country’s collective panic.
The run on toilet paper makes grocer John Catsimatidis angry, even though its recent sales are bound to have fattened his bottom line. “There’s a rumor that there will be a shortage of toilet paper—and then there is a shortage of toilet paper,” he sputters over the telephone. (This interview was conducted pursuant to social-distancing best practices.) There is no real shortage of toilet paper, he insists, describing any passing scarcity as the result of unhinged demand.
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