“It’s Total Panic” – Store-Shelves Empty As Virus-Spread Sparks Panic-Buying Food & Masks Across Italy

Via ZeroHedge

Update (1050ET): It’s not just food. As Bloomberg reports, in the tiny hamlet of Cassago Brianza, half way between Milan and Lake Como, Giovanni Casiraghi was taken aback to find a long line of customers waiting when he opened his industrial equipment store on Monday morning.

They all asked for the same thing: a mask typically used in building sites or factories.

In less than 30 minutes, he had sold more than 500 of them.

“We sell industrial equipment and I know most of our clients, so I was astonished when people I’ve never seen before asked for these professional masks,” the 71-year-old said.

“Someone told me that I was one of the few shops to still have protective masks. Panic is spreading even here, far from the epicenter of the outbreak.”

Giovanni Casiraghi at his industrial equipment store in Cassago Brianza.

“It’s total panic,” said Michela, whose family owns the L’Arte del Panino bar in west Milan.

“There have been very few clients today. And we have to shut down the bar at 6 p.m.” She declined to give her last name.

*  *  *

As Summit news’ Paul Joseph Watson detailed earlier, people in several regions of Italy have reacted to coronavirus spreading throughout the country by panic buying, leaving some store shelves empty.

With more than 220 people infected, Italy has the most coronavirus victims out of any country in Europe. Seven people have died.

Footage out of Milan shot yesterday shows some products almost or entirely out of stock.

Lock downs are in place in the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, with 50,000 people being unable to leave without special permission.

Numerous museums, cinemas, bars, businesses and schools have also shut down and sporting activities have been suspended.

The Venice Carnival was also cancelled, while designer Giorgio Armani streamed his Milan Fashion Week event from an empty theater.

The panic is largely being driven by the speed at which coronavirus cases in Italy jumped from just 3 on Thursday to over 220.

“There is panic and a surreal atmosphere,” said Melinda Baret, a Filipino woman working in Milan as a domestic helper.

“I’m traveling using a face mask, and this morning in the metro there were fewer people than usual, most of them with a mask and the rest with a scarf protecting their face. I’m still going to all the families I work with, but I’m using a lot of precautions. I’m scared.”

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26 Comments
gman
gman
February 24, 2020 12:45 pm

“It’s total panic”

and little else.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  gman
February 24, 2020 1:33 pm

At least a 5% mortality rate in South Korea – with their medical system still working, and not yet overloaded. Yeah, it’s nothing. Sure.

gman
gman
  Anonymous
February 24, 2020 1:55 pm

given the purported transmissibility and purported morbidity rate it should be rampaging in the streets. but everybody’s hyperventilating about a few more cases and a few more deaths as if it’s another black plague shoah.

near as I can figure, for some preppers this is just entertainment. were something serious to pop up then these won’t say a word, they won’t know what to say, because they’ll be totally paralyzed by the dawning realization of reality.

AC
AC
  gman
February 24, 2020 6:48 pm

Consider that the Chinese numbers are cooked to make their situation look less bad than it probably actually is, with near certainty.

Yesterday evening in China, they were reporting 77,150 total cases, and 2592 total deaths.

This indicates roughly a 7% mortality rate at R0 3; a 10% mortality rate at R0 4.1; a 12% mortality rate at R0 4.7; a 19% mortality rate at R0 6.7.

The higher R0 values are more likely, based on what we have seen in South Korea, Italy, and on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

These mortality rates are based on the wildly optimistic (and, frankly, unbelievable) numbers the Chinese government is providing.

It’s almost certainly worse than they are admitting it is, and the most optimistic take on their numbers is that they are seeing a 7% mortality rate.

gman
gman
  AC
February 24, 2020 7:22 pm

“2592 total deaths”

and as has been pointed out here elsewhere, in that same timeframe china generated considerably more deaths from recognized ordinary flu – so what’s the big deal? and has been pointed out here and elsewhere, about .8 of the deaths have been people who are age 60+, which is typical of ordinary flu – so what’s the big deal? and as has been pointed out here and elsewhere, if this were as serious as has been hyped then given past and continuing air travel in and out of china we should be seeing this everywhere – but we don’t, so what’s the big deal? honestly it sounds in china like nothing more than confucianist/communist bureaucratic over-reaction, and here on this board like nothing more than wishful thinking – “oh please let the end of the world finally happen oh please oh please!”

AC
AC
  gman
February 24, 2020 7:29 pm

You don’t understand any of the math. This has been explained to you repeatedly.

The Wuhan virus is at least 400% to 500% more contagious, and at least 70x more lethal than influenza. It is not yet as widespread as influenza – this is why the total number of deaths are smaller for the Wuhan virus.

You are trying to compare total deaths, when you must look at the relative *rates*.

gman
gman
  AC
February 24, 2020 7:54 pm

“you must look at the relative *rates*.”

rates, at low volumes, can range greatly. 1 to 10 is an exponential increase, but it’s still only 10. and notice how the hype focuses on the rates – that’s because the total numbers don’t support the hype case.

“You don’t understand any of the math.”

sure. I’ll bookmark this blog post too, and repost it a few months from now when everyone has forgotten all about this, so everyone can see if my math has improved with hindsight.

Anonymous
Anonymous
  gman
February 24, 2020 10:11 pm

You just proved you don’t comprehend the math.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs
  AC
February 24, 2020 10:45 pm

AC
7,500 people die in the US every day. If we were the size of china that would be 30,000 people a day are dying from DEATH.

gman
gman
  Fleabaggs
February 25, 2020 11:47 am

“30,000 people a day are dying from DEATH”

some deaths are more exciting than others.

Mo' Better Deaths
Mo' Better Deaths
  gman
February 25, 2020 12:03 pm

But, I’ve heard deaths resulting from DEATH are twice as likely to test positive for DOA sickness.

Mygirl...Maybe
Mygirl...Maybe
  gman
February 24, 2020 11:25 pm

YUP! All those doctors who state they are SERIOUSLY concerned about this are idiots. You, being the super medical savant, know better. You once again fail to grasp the situation. You will when you run out of supplies and things you need because the stuff is no longer coming into the country from China.

gman
gman
  Mygirl...Maybe
February 25, 2020 11:52 am

“when you run out of supplies and things you need because the stuff is no longer coming into the country from China”

sure, that is a potential problem, absolutely. but that won’t be driven by the virus, rather it will be driven by everybody’s (enthusiastic gleeful) panic(!) reaction to it.

Paulita Senorita!
Paulita Senorita!
  Mygirl...Maybe
February 25, 2020 12:07 pm

There are always black markets and back doors into anywhere just about.

Always.

23 Vamoose (EC)
23 Vamoose (EC)
  Paulita Senorita!
February 25, 2020 12:12 pm

And just what do you know about back doors, Paula?

gman
gman
  Paulita Senorita!
February 25, 2020 12:33 pm

“There are always black markets”

well, historically, yes. but that’s because production and supply chains still existed. in our present situation production has been removed from the united states and the supply chains are across the pacific – it’ll be a lot harder to establish a black market under those conditions.

robert h siddell jr
robert h siddell jr
  Anonymous
February 24, 2020 8:55 pm

Reliable data indicates the death rate increases with age; children are about .2% but people over 60 are about 30%; the average is probably 5-10% so far. Recovery from this virus increases the individual death rates for other types of subsequent Coronavirus infections (like many common colds) because the Immune Cells attack the new strain but then they become attached, are not destroyed and the new strain gets taken into healthy cells by the immune cells (that would have previously blocked it). This nCovid-19 becomes a kind of Trojan Horse disease!

Anonymous
Anonymous
February 24, 2020 1:28 pm

the real story:

The trucks that normally move products from the ports, and no longer delivering, because the ports are no longer receiving the products. The “Just In Time” delivery system that has allowed corporations to avoid the cost of warehousing products, has failed.

Those few pennies per product it saved, will now be civilizations downfall.

you can thank anybody with an MBA for this. (and everyone who took their advice)

up next:
more centralized planning to impose more restrictions on your life, due to this overblown, over hyped, man made, Kung Flu.

gman
gman
  Anonymous
February 24, 2020 1:57 pm

so far this bureaucratic over-reaction lockdown seems to be the only real damage inflicted by this “plague”.

Mygirl...Maybe
Mygirl...Maybe
  gman
February 24, 2020 4:47 pm

Damn you’re dense…you have watched too many zombie movies and think a pandemic happens like in those movies where infected victims bite innocent human and ten seconds later, voila! Another zombie.

gman
gman
  Mygirl...Maybe
February 24, 2020 5:28 pm

“ten seconds later”

is 30 days long enough? really with all the screaming hype we should be seeing bodies in the street by now.

come on, admit it – you want this. or something like it. or anything like it. or anything at all, just so it’s an apocalypse.

Mygirl...Maybe
Mygirl...Maybe
  gman
February 24, 2020 11:18 pm

Nobody in their right mind wants this. You cannot get over your normalcy bias, apparently you ignored how 3 people infected morphed to 220 in less than three days. Then there is the incubation period that can be almost if not, thirty days. Did you take that into account?
Are you being deliberately obtuse? You still stupidly think this is the flu? A cold? This has almost ten times the rate of infection as the cold and flu combined. Are you sanguine because you aren’t an older person with pre-existing conditions? Guess you don’t have any loved ones over a certain age. In China there have been several doctors under fifty who have died from this…

Never mind. I waste time and energy even responding to your closed minded comments.

gman
gman
  Mygirl...Maybe
February 25, 2020 12:00 pm

“Nobody in their right mind wants this”

yeah. that makes me wonder about a lot of you.

“Did you take that into account?”

sure. did you? or did you just use it as a springboard to support what you want?

“You still stupidly think this is the flu? A cold?”

so far, that’s what the numbers indicate. are the numbers stupid? you sound like a leftist who, when you point out that communism doesn’t work, says “you just don’t underSTAND!”

“I waste time and energy even responding to your closed minded comments”

you can ignore me again when I repost the link to this blog post a few months from now, when the new “end of the world!” is coming again.

Paulita Senorita!
Paulita Senorita!
  Mygirl...Maybe
February 25, 2020 12:10 pm

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51538711

these patients are being released in australia just 14 days after leaving china

now we know it takes at least three weeks for some to have symptoms, i wonder if llpoh has concerns

gman
gman
  Paulita Senorita!
February 25, 2020 5:11 pm

“i wonder if llpoh has concerns”

nah, he already has plans for a “highly selective culling” when the time comes.

ILuvCO2
ILuvCO2
  Anonymous
February 24, 2020 3:41 pm