Netherlands PM says what we all want to hear: There's enough toilet paper
Now if the US could say the same thing...
Looking for toilet paper? You're not the only one.
While we're cooped up at home, fretting over our coronavirus supply stockpiles, there's one thing we're wanting more than anything: toilet paper. At least one country has enough for a decade.
In the Netherlands, people don't have to worry about running out of toilet paper, the country's prime minister, Mark Rutte, said Thursday, according to Reuters. Rutte noted that it's already appearing on store shelves again after people were panic-buying the essential bathroom product last week.
"There's enough in the whole country for the coming 10 years," Rutte told a supermarket shopper while visiting the store to support workers. "We can all poop for 10 years."
The novel coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has been linked to a family of coronaviruses, which include SARS and MERS. WHO has labeled the outbreak of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, a pandemic. It's changing the way we live and forcing people across the globe to stay at home and isolate themselves from others.
The crisis has led to the closures of schools, restaurants and bars in places around the world. In the US, it's also meant venues like Broadway theaters and NBA arenas have shut down. Starting Tuesday, the San Francisco Bay Area was put on lockdown, with citizens ordered to stay at home except for essential outings.
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The lockdowns and worries about the coronavirus have caused people to rush their grocery stores, pharmacies and corner bodegas in an effort to have enough supplies to last weeks -- or possibly months -- confined at home. In the US, there's been particular concern about toilet paper.
Stores everywhere from California to Iowa have been picked clean. But most experts believe store shelves should soon be restocked, and consumer product companies have assured the public that they're making and distributing toilet paper as fast as they can.
Until our local Costco and Trader Joe's stores have a steady supply, we'll just have to hope the US is like the Netherlands: prepared for a decade's worth of poop.