In the early stages of the COVID lockdowns, people became paranoid about not being able to get items (e.g., toilet paper, hand sanitizer) and stockpiled these items, despite no indications that there would be any impact to supply. This sudden increase in demand was too steep for the elasticity of the supply for these items, causing the shortages that people were worried about in the first place. Once the shortages occurred, because the supply chain was not elastic enough to catch up the shortages continued, so people continued to horde items when they became available. This cycle continued the shortages for a significant period of time before the supply could catch up