Fears about the pandemic are making for busy scenes at D.C.-area grocery stores.
Some people are preparing for the possibility of staying home sick. Others now have to provide another meal to kids who are home from school. And many say they simply need groceries, as usual.
Toilet paper and disinfecting products were notable low-stock items at the Giant in the Cabin John Village shopping center in Potomac Friday.
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“There were no carts, and people were just grabbing things off the shelves,” said Joan Forest of Potomac. “I don’t think they even knew what they were taking.”
John Seig of Bethesda needed a resupply because his two hungry teenage sons would now be home from school. He said he had been buying other essentials like toilet paper over the past few weeks — “enough in case we get sick we can stay home for two weeks,” he said.
One shopper wore a single ski glove, to avoid touching the cart and groceries.
More people are also choosing to get groceries delivered, using services like Instacart.
“We’re continuing to see a surge in demand across the Instacart platform as consumers increasingly turn to our service to get the fresh groceries and household essentials they need,” the company said in a statement to WTOP.
Giant declined to provide specifics about its Peapod delivery service, but the Peapod website was down for a time Friday.
