Stores Empty As Coronavirus Cases Top 13,000 In US

Basic household items still remain hot commodities in most grocery stores across the US as the authorities recommend social distancing and most businesses shut their doors fighting the  COVID-19 pandemic.

Bottled water, poultry products, sea foods, bread, paper towels, hand sanitiser and milk are among the items that have disappeared from the shelves, according to our correspondent who visited some stores in one of the states.

Staple foods like garri, yams, dried fish and other favourites of Nigerians living in America are not spared as well, this is as the number of coronavirus cases in the US passed the 13,000 mark on Thursday.

A resident, Sunday Enitan, told our correspondent that he had to wait three days before he could get the items he needed from the African shop he buys from, as all the groceries were gone when he visited over the weekend.

Owner of one the African stores in Raleigh, North Carolina, Joseph Agori, told National Wire his store did not have items like smoked turkey and fish as of Wednesday because the suppliers of the items in Detroit and Atlanta respectively gave him a week wait period to get restocked.

“It’s like blessing in adversity,” he told our correspondent as he noted that customers had continued to besiege his store for panic buying over the weekend as the reported cases of the pandemic continued to rend the air.

Italy, Denmark and Spain announced a lock down of their countries last week, and all the 50 states of the US already had confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, prompting the governments of various states to restrict gatherings of people to between 50 and 10 and a distancing of six feet between individuals.

Many are, however, speculating that the U.S government may order a restriction of movement as some offices have already asked their employees to work from home and schools are closed, prompting anxiety over availability of basic needs.

The effect of the likely shutdown of American cities is also felt at Walmart, a grocery giant with about 5,000 stores across the country; as well as regional retailers, Food Lion and Lowes foods with over 1,000 and about 100 stores respectively.

This is in spite of the instruction by shop owners that purchase of certain items are restricted to two units at a time per customer.

At Triangle City Centre Walmart, the entire sections of tissue papers, bakery, poultry and bottled water were completely empty.

An associate with one of the retailer’s stores said her outlet did not have chicken, even for her consumption, and she could only get a pack out of the two available at a Food Lion store where she holds a second job.

“Walmart is expecting two trucks of chicken between now and the weekend we’re told,” she said under anonymity.

A stocker at Food Lion who also spoke under anonymity said it would take weeks before his store would be able to restock milk, water and paper towels. “People were buying at an unprecedented level and now we’re completely out of some of the items,” he said.