Arizona is most guilty of COVID-19 'panic buying,' study says
Miami Beach, CVS pharmacy, toilet paper aisle with only one item left. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
PHOENIX - Researchers are revealing the top states guilty of COVID-19 "panic buying," and Arizona sits at the top of the list.
"Back in 2020, the humble, yet indispensable household consumable, toilet paper, became somewhat of an icon of mass panic during the pandemic. People across the country scrambled to single-ply – er, sorry, singlehandedly – stockpile as many rolls as possible from any source; and by any means necessary," says a Cherry Digital July 13 news release, in part.
Now, after years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, researchers say time proved that Arizonans panic bought the most, with Californians coming in at No. 2.
"Cherry Digital, a leading performance public relations & content marketing agency, conducted an analysis of Google search data for the words 'toilet paper' over March 2020 (the height of the panic buying period), and compared this to March 2019. They identified that the biggest panic buyers in the country resided in Arizona. Online searches by residents of the Grand Canyon State increased by a whopping 11,155% compared to the previous year," the news release continued.
More information about the research and how other states rank can be found here.
The top 5 biggest panic buying states:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Idaho