THE threat of coronavirus has been over-exaggerated to the point of panic according to shoppers in Orange's CBD on Friday.
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With Coles, Woolworths and Aldi supermarkets sold out of toilet paper and tissues, those who weren't seeking the sanitary products were trying to make some sense of consumer buying habits in recent days.
Water, rice, pasta and even biscuits were also in short supply, depending on the supermarket.
Woolworths customer Darren Townsend said it had been difficult to buy his favourite biscuits and chips since Sunday.
Coles customer Bev Charles said she bought three packets of wet wipes as an interim measure for toilet paper, while Woolworths customer Rebecca Price hoped she could source some from family. "I'm down to my last roll," she said.
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The majority of people the Central Western Daily spoke to on Friday had enough toilet paper at home to cover them in the short term.
Mary Venchiarutti said she normally bought the product on special.
"I don't like it, I don't know what they're using it for," she said of those who managed to buy some earlier this week.
"Wrapping each other up and playing mummies?"
Cherie McKeown said she was not going to panic, but she questioned what would happen if high demand on groceries continued.
"They should put a limit on how much people can buy rather than letting people buy up," she said.
"I'm on the pension so when people like me come to get things, there's nothing left."
For Linda Burke, who is recovering from a period of illness affecting her white blood cell counts, the outbreak was "scary".
"I was in hospital for 18 days - it's the first time I've been in town in two months."
Ms Venchiarutti was philosophical about coronavirus.
"You have to be careful but there's so many things going around anyway," she said.
Cobar resident Estiaan Kleu said the hype had not reached further west.
"They're carrying on normally," he said.
Inge Andreas said the situation was embarrassing for Australia.
"It's ridiculous, Europe is laughing at Australia because we're buying toilet paper, you would think we would be stocking up on food," she said.
Wolfgang Kittler echoed her sentiment.
"Without food, toilet paper is useless," he said.
Mr Kittler approved of the government response to the pandemic so far.
"I think what they need to do is clamp down on people arriving from any affected areas," he said.
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