Stockpiling

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged people throughout the world Tuesday to stop stockpiling masks and other protective gear, saying they are needed by health workers who are fighting the coronavirus.

“I’m stockpiling on ramen,” says Mason Sell, a grad student at George Washington University.

Hand sanitizer is one of the products Americans have been stockpiling during the coronavirus outbreak.

Countries around the world are preparing for a global outbreak of avian flu. Steven Riley, from the University of Hong Kong, says researchers are developing and stockpiling vaccines. The thinking behind this is that a very small mutation will eventually transform this avian strain into one that can infect humans.

People are stockpiling food.