Coronavirus pandemic empties shelves at local grocery stores

IDAHO FALLS — Amy Villacorta had four large packets of green and white napkins sitting in her grocery cart.

“We couldn’t find any toilet paper,” she explained.

Villacorta was not alone in her futility. There’s not a single roll of toilet paper for sale to be found in Idaho Falls. Grocery store shelves are also devoid of pasta, rice and flour.

WinCo had to limit shoppers to four packages of bottled water. Shelf after shelf was empty before noon on Friday. Checkout lines, which began forming as soon as stores opened, stretched across the store. Carts filled to the brim were abandoned in the middle of the stores by customers frustrated by the long wait. A few shoppers even wore face masks. Grocery stores across Idaho Falls reported similar circumstances.

“It’s Black Friday for grocery stores,” Brigette Davis joked as she stood in line at WinCo on Friday afternoon.

Her cart was piled high with long-lasting staples. She wasn’t worried about coronavirus.

But she was concerned about shortages caused by panic.

“I know I’m contributing to the problem, but how can I not when everyone else is? It’s hard not to get caught up in it,” Davis said.

President Donald Trump and Gov. Brad Little both declared states of emergency on Friday, in addition to the first confirmed Idaho coronavirus case being announced. Four more Idaho coronavirus cases were confirmed on Saturday, including one in East Idaho’s Teton County.

Adam Finehout also had a full cart. He isn’t sure how seriously the coronavirus will end up being, but he doesn’t want to be the one person who makes the mistake of not taking action. Like Davis, he is more concerned about shortages rather than sickness. He is worried that supplies from China and other countries hit by the disease will begin to slow.

“If you don’t get it today, you might not be able to get it tomorrow,” Finehout said.

His place of employment recently closed due to concerns. Finehout said he’s partly stocking up on food because he loves to cook and is looking forward to spending his newfound free time in the kitchen.

At about 1:30 p.m., Brittany Goodwin and her three young children waited in a long line at WinCo. Her baby started to fuss as a WinCo employee, acting as a makeshift traffic cop, hustled her to another line in an attempt to keep the lines even. Goodwin wasn’t stockpiling, she had just come in on her normal Friday afternoon grocery store run. She hadn’t realized it would be so hectic.

Goodwin said with a laugh that the situation was “ridiculous.”

Despite the crowds, humor seemed to be the dominant emotion in grocery stores. Customers chatted in line, debating whether they were being smart or silly. Nobody could quite decide which it was.

The Post Register visited five Idaho Falls area stores on Friday and called several others. The crowded stores made it impossible for people to maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to keep six feet of personal space.

But in the bustle there were moments of kindness. Customers helped each other find items. Shoppers in line asked the person behind them to watch their cart while they ran and picked up just one more thing they forgot.

Hopefully, it wasn’t toilet paper.