History repeats as virus panic strips shops bare

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In early March, panic buying gripped the nation with shoppers stockpiling staples like toilet paper, tissues, rice, flour, canned goods, bottled water, and hand sanitiser.

Store shelves were stripped bare creating acute shortages of goods and forcing supermarkets to place hard limits on the number of items that could be purchased across a wide variety of products.

Four months on and history is repeating in Victoria amid the spike in COVID-19 infections and widening lockdowns.

Photos shared on social media yesterday once again showed empty shelves after staples were raided.

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For example, here’s a store in Chapel Street Melbourne:

And no, that is not the USSR but a Coles store in Footscray:

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Search the web and you will find loads of similar photos and videos published online.

Coles and Woolworths have once again implemented two item limits on 18 different products including frozen vegetables, bread loaves, chilled fresh milk, prepacked sausages, burger patties and tissues.

History never repeats but it sure does rhyme.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.