It's not surprising, though. Most people who were panic shopping were doing so because they (wrongfully) assumed that coronavirus was about to hit, and thus, they figured they should stock up "before it gets here." But in reality, people in every state were already walking around with coronavirus in their system for up to 14 days with no symptoms. The panic shoppers thought they were beating coronavirus. Now that there are confirmed coronavirus cases, they've all backed off the shopping because they think they'll catch it now if they go outside.

While all of this was going on, I bet a good portion of the people who caught coronavirus had gone shopping when all the panicky chaos unfolded... because news outlets were reporting that supermarkets and big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target were packed to the point you couldn't even push your cart around and everyone was breathing/coughing on each other. But even other stores in general... people all at once were racing to buy stuff before things closed down, so stores like Best Buy and whatever was probably another breeding ground for coronavirus. (I'm just saying it's ironic and kinda silly that people panic shopped "to avoid getting coronavirus before it hits." The timeframe to panic shop was back in January through very early February, when virtually no one had it.)

Whatever floats people's boats, though. I think they were just as vulnerable during the panicky chaos as they are now, so I don't see why people think differently. I guess they pay more attention to "confirmed cases" than the fact people are walking around with it and being asymptomatic.