Online purchases of toilet paper have nearly doubled and non-perishable items like canned goods rose nearly 70% during the January and February period, according to Adobe Analytics.
“This is a big time of anxiety, and we know the biggest source of anxiety is uncertainty,” says Stewart Shankman, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University. “People are trying to get a sense of control by buying things you really don’t need. It’s a false sense of control.”

A recent Northwestern Medicine study found that black and Latina women report more pain postpartum than white women, yet they receive less opioid medication in the hospital and are less likely to receive a prescription for an opioid at postpartum discharge.

But what’s different about the hoarding around the coronavirus is that it’s happening all across the country. Consumers are also dealing with an unknown threat and they have no idea when it will be over, consumer experts say.
“This is a big time of anxiety, and we know the biggest source of anxiety is uncertainty,” says Stewart Shankman, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University. “People are trying to get a sense of control by buying things you really don’t need. It’s a false sense of control.”′

It’s probably a run-of-the-mill cold, or it could be the beginning of a bout of seasonal flu. But with recent cases of the novel coronavirus, called COVID-19, surfacing in Illinois, some people are bound to wonder: Could this be the coronavirus?
“They should not see their doctor immediately,” said Michael Ison, a professor of infectious diseases and organ transplantation at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. “They should call their doctor first.”