Newcastle has a bad case of the runs. A run on toilet paper, that is.
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The only fear worse than death from the coronavirus, it seems, is running out of dunny roll.
As panic buying spread like a virus, toilet paper shelves were bare at Coles and Woolworths at Marketown in Newcastle West on Wednesday morning.
Toilet paper shelves at Charlestown Woolworths were also empty.
Stores across the region have been affected.
We hear one square of toilet paper is selling on eBay for $1000 [As a joke, people! Stay calm!].
Toilet paper hysteria has apparently engulfed the nation. The hashtag #toiletpapergate was trending on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
Imagine waking up one day to your whole country being out of toilet paper. Anyone got a square to spare?
The run on toilet paper means workers are run off their feet. Supermarkets have had to put on more staff.
Woolworths has announced a four-pack per customer limit on buying toilet paper.
"It will help shore up stock levels as suppliers ramp up local production and deliveries in response to higher than usual demand," a spokesperson said.
"Our teams are continuing to work hard on restocking stores with long-life food and groceries from our distribution centres. The vast majority of the products in our range remain available for our customers as normal.
"We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by temporary stock shortages and thank them for their patience."
If you're one of the unlucky ones to miss out on restocking your toilet paper supplies, you could always try gum leaves.
But keep it to yourself. The last thing we want is a run on gum tree leaves.
Meanwhile, the SMH reported that Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, told Senate Estimates on Wednesday morning that 80 per cent of people who catch the coronavirus deal with it pretty well and some "barely notice it". He said this was especially the case for children.
"Professor Murphy says that buying up all the toilet paper on the supermarket shelves is probably not a 'proportionate or sensible thing to do'," SMH reporter David Crowe tweeted.
The professsor added: "While it's pretty clear this disease is going to be with us for a while, the focus at the moment is containment... to slow the spread and keep the situation under control."
Professor Murphy also said in a statement on Tuesday: "As we've always said, we are extremely well prepared in Australia".
