I have both seen and been in the middle of chaos, insanity and a loss of common decency over the past few days. As everyone is aware there is a pandemic named COVID-19, better known as coronavirus. I have been out trying to purchase some groceries and supplies, as have thousands of people. The difference for me is that I am not hoarding food and supplies and I have tried hard to maintain a pleasant attitude and show some human kindness. I wish I could say the same for my fellow man and woman. I have witness people’s anger, frustration and impatience. I have seen people pushing, grabbing, yelling and being beyond insensitive. As I have written before, I use a wheelchair when I am out. I have been cut off, blocked and intimidated. Yesterday I was even pinned twice against the shelves in market, unable to move in any direction. I don’t expect special treatment, but I would like to be treated humanly.

I see these people just grabbing things off the shelves, I wonder at times if they even know what they are buying. Then there is the battle for water and of course toilet paper, I don’t understand why the obsession over toilet paper. From what I understand about the coronavirus extra toilet paper is not required. And they aren’t going to stop producing toilet paper, and when you need to buy it they always have it at the store. I have not been a part of the toilet paper drama, I already had enough. The store I was in yesterday there was a limit of 1 package of toilet paper per person. One of the times I was pinned in the aisle was when they were stocking the toilet paper and as I was leaving the store there was a fight starting because a woman had about 10 or 12 packages and was laying on them while she was on her phone calling her friends and family to come get them. By the way, it was so bad at this store yesterday that I gave up and left.

I have primary immune deficiency, I’m sure I shouldn’t be out in this craziness, but needed some groceries and it’s not like you can get everything you want at one store. My immunity deficiency brings up another issue in this insanity, people hoarding hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. These are things that I use every day, 365 days a year, not something I buy in mass quantity out of fear. Again, like the toilet paper, these are products are still being produced. The person who manages to hoard the most doesn’t win a prize, but people like me pay the price. I can’t even go to the gym in my complex, something I do every day, because I can’t buy antibacterial wipes. I use them every day, with or without coronavirus, to wipe down the equipment I use. These product allow me to participate in normal life, but now I can’t. I know I am not alone, there are many people that for various reasons are at a higher risk. My brother-in-law sent me an article about 2 guys that hatched a plan. One guy drove all over Tennessee and part of Kentucky in a U-haul truck and managed to buy 20,000 bottles of hand sanitizer. They also purchased thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes. The other guy stayed home and prepared for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer that he had ordered. They started listing them to sell on Amazon, they posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer, they all sold for between $8 and $70b each. The next day Amazon pulled their items and thousands of other listings and some of the sellers were suspended and many others received a warning. Now my question is why weren’t all the sellers suspended, it is wrong to make a profit from a pandemic. Ebay followed prohibiting any U.S. sales of masks and hand sanitizer, you’ll notice no mention of antibacterial wipes. On Ebay there are many listings for wipes and the prices are insane, a 4 pack of wipes that on a average day sells for about $12 is being sold on Ebay for $89 and up. I finally purchased a single container of 35 wipes on Ebay, but instead of about $5 I paid $20.

The guys in Tennessee are sitting on all that hand sanitizer while people, including me, search in vain for it. The one guy says he doesn’t know where he’ll sell the other 17,700 bottles. He says first he was in a situation that was going to help his family financially and now he doesn’t know what he is going to do with all of it. To me the other appalling part of this is one of the guys in this story is a former Air Force technical sergeant, who has been selling on Amazon since 2015 and has managed to make it into a six-figure career. After the article was published the state attorney general’s office sent an investigator to his home and gave him a cease-and-desist letter and are now investigating this case. His defense is that he was not price gouging, that the extra money was to cover his costs, like postage. He added that he was just fixing inefficiencies in the marketplace, because some areas of the country need these products more than others and that he is helping send the supply towards the demand. He went on to say he feels like it’s a public service. There was an update to this story, since the story came out and they have been scorned by the public, they have decided to explore ways to donate all the supplies.

I remember when people took care of what they needed, but also made sure they helped each other. Neighbors would look out for other neighbors, especially ones that might need some additional help. There is a devastating loss of compassion, I have seen it over time. But what I have seen in these past few days has caused me to lose faith people. I always try to see the good in people, but apparently that is another casualty of the coronavirus.