According to BuzzFeed.News
Online stores for survivalists and preppers have seen a massive uptick in sales as the coronavirus outbreak in the US has worsened — but the interest is not from survivalists or preppers. It’s from people who hadn’t thought of emergency preparations until now.
“What we’re seeing now is that people are finally seeing that the world is a fragile place,” Adam Handelsman, a spokesperson for Mira Safety, told BuzzFeed News.
Started a little over a year ago, Mira Safety is an online store that focuses on emergency supplies for forest fires, like respirator masks. Handelsman said the shop is currently running about a three-week back order on all its products, which include military-grade respirators, hazmat suits, and Geiger counters.
Handelsman waved away the notion, however, that it was members of the prepper community who were stocking up in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, which as of Wednesday had reached 128 cases in the US and nine deaths.
“The fact is that the doomsday prepper community that’s mocked isn’t buying our product,” he said. “They’ve had this stuff for years.”