Coronavirus and changing behaviours

The number of cases of coronavirus in Hong Kong really haven't dramatically increased.  There are a couple new reports here and there, but it really doesn't seem to have ballooned or jumped at all.  Fingers crossed that this continues to be the case, but based purely on the numbers currently available, there definitely seems to be a disproportionate response to the coronavirus by the general population.  Surgical mask prices continue to remain sky high (though there don't seem to be shortages anymore as there are now plenty of stores stocking them), hoarding of random goods is still happening, and there continues to be large groups of people terrified of even going outside.

The food and beverage sector as well as the retail sector have been hit hard.  Another sector which has been particularly hard hit are taxis.  Some people have stopped taking taxis entirely because of a concern that they can't be sure who the taxi drivers have come into contact with.  It's created the odd scene that I've never witnessed before of long ranks of taxis at the taxi stands with no lines of people.  This happens even during the evening rush hours in the CBD. 

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the initial panicked behaviours have now backfired.

Rumours and terror drove people to clean out the shelves completely of toilet paper and rice (though not the brown rice....), but the stores of course responded with the restocking orders.  It seems like there never actually was any real shortages, just shortages in locations due to the sudden surge.  Now there is too much rice and too much toilet paper in the stores.  Since most people went out and bought about two years worth of both, some of these stores may be stuck with an oversupply of these products for a while....

Through all of these problems and issues, there have been some occasional bright spots.  One of the big responses to the coronavirus in China has been a near complete shutdown of the businesses and industry on the mainland.  Shops have been shuttered and factories have now remained closed since Chinese new year.  In Hong Kong, this industrial shutdown has meant the most prolonged clear skies I've seen in my time living in the city.

The air has been fresh and from my apartment in the Mid Levels, the lack of any haze means that I can see all the way across to the hills in the New Territories.