No panic in Tacoma over coronavirus Saturday, but no face masks available, either
A man approached an employee at Target at South 23rd Street in Tacoma while she was stacking shelves Saturday afternoon.
“Do you have any masks?” he asked.
“We’re all sold out,” she told him.
That was the case for many stores and pharmacies in Tacoma on Saturday in wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Most stores have been out of masks and hand sanitizer for weeks, but the questions continue to pour in.
“All day long,” a Target employee told The News Tribune.
Masks and sanitizer also were out of stock at Rite Aid on North Pearl Street and the Bartells on Sixth Avenue.
At Bartells, one staff member said questions were especially frequent on Saturday morning after the announcement of a death in Washington. The store got a shipment of masks on Tuesday, but they were gone by Wednesday. She’s been suggesting people check hardware stores.
Madison Harrington, a shift lead at Walgreens on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma, said as soon as they received a shipment last week, one man came in and bought them all.
“As soon as we have them on the shelf, they’re gone the next day,” she said.
For the most part, people who are looking for masks don’t seem scared, they just want to be prepared, Harrison said.
“I did see a video where you could make your own,” she added.
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 2:34 PM.
