Emergency food and survival supply companies say sales of their products have spiked since news of the highly-infectious coronavirus became a concern in the United States.
U.S. citizens, who are thinking about lengthy home quarantines, have begun to stock up on emergency food and medical supplies, leaving the store shelves of major retailers empty. However, others are ordering their emergency needs online.
Jeffrey Gottheil, president of American Family Safety, told the Washington Examiner on Sunday that his company sales for emergency preparedness kits and supplies have increased by over 600% in the last week alone. The purchases included food, water, first aid kits, and especially masks. Gottheil said there is “no doubt a major concern for safety among people.”
“We have had to limit the sale of the N95 mask, which comes with our kits, to only kits. We cannot sell them individually anymore because we will run out of supplies. As well, we have been warned that the price from our suppliers will be going up considerably,” he added.
Wise Company Meals, which sells 60 to 120 serving meal buckets in its product line, noted on its website, “Due to very high demand caused by Coronavirus concerns, please allow 3-5 weeks for shipping.”
Similar survivalist companies such as BePrepared.com, Augason Farms, and My Patriot Supply are stating delay times and sold-out products on their websites as well.
“The news media has focused on the Coronavirus emergency for days now. At the start of February, demand for our storable food products was 10X above normal. Since the start of this week it has spiked to 100X normal volume,” My Patriot Supply announced. “We have documented this change almost daily for you on this web page. These are unprecedented times. It’s no longer ’emergency preparedness’ we’re dealing with, but ’emergency reaction.'”
One U.S. citizen has died from the coronavirus, also known as the COVID-19 virus. The contagion has appeared in several states along the West Coast and has cropped up a few other parts of the country as well. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Sunday told CBS’s Face the Nation that while the current threat to the U.S. population is minimal, no option is off the table.
More than 80,000 people have been infected with the virus, most of whom are living in China on the Hubei province, where the infection first surfaced back in December. The worldwide mortality rate is heading upward, nearing 3,000 on six continents.
