Pandemic-period Ponderings - Panic Shopping?

For the Record: These are pictures from the third week of March 2020. The world was in an unusual state. Italy was going through what might have been its worst days of the Covid19 pandemic. Parts of the US were bracing for the big hit. Tech. companies in Silicon Valley had already started working from home and the different counties of California were trying to decide what was the best course of action to be taken for schools. It was a few days before the state was asked to shelter in place and we had heard of the panic shopping that was going on in the area around us.

It was a Saturday. We had books to be returned to the library and some grocery shopping to be done and this was what we saw at a Safeway store that day:

The potatoes were almost gone. 

Hand Soap -- All Gone!!

This was the bottled water aisle, I think. I was glad we were filtering our drinking water. :)

I had pasta on my shopping list but didn't find the kind I wanted. 

And the other stores in town were -- I heard -- in a worse situation. My social media timelines and WhatsApp groups were a show of shock and anger and frustration. And it got me thinking. Somehow my thoughts were different. 😶

What do you see in the pictures above? 

People only thinking of themselves? 

OR

People trying to prepare for a shutdown -- something they've never known before? 🤔