There’s one thing that’s been all over the news and is the topic of most conversations: coronavirus, or COVID-19. No matter where you are in the world, you’re probably affected by it one way or another. Geneva is no different.

In the past two days, the UK, Swiss and French governments have all announced the measures they’re taking to stop the spread. In the UK, this won’t have a huge effect on people right now. In France and Switzerland, however, this is completely different. Schools are closed, and large events have been banned. The border between Switzerland and Italy is currently closed except to Swiss residents and permit holders. There are rumours that this might happen to other borders too, like the one with France.

It’s hard not to get anxious with rumours and false information flying round. Official information tends to be in French too, which makes it even harder. It takes a few seconds on an expat Facebook group to find that lots of people don’t know what’s going on. Some people are claiming all borders are completely closed, which is definitely untrue!

All of the rumours and fear has created chaos. People are panic buying toilet roll, bleach, eggs, long life milk and pasta. Even the venoisserie section was empty!

All the empty shelves remind me of the photos I’ve seen from countries in crisis, which makes sense because the whole world seems to be in a state of crisis. I’m normally calm but even I’m starting to get scared. Not because of the virus, but because of the other images this sort of panic buying conjures up. Things like war and rioting.

Even in Wuhan and northern Italy, the shops have stayed open so this sort of panic buying doesn’t make much sense. Luckily I picked up some essentials in my regular weekly shop a few days ago, but anyone who does their shopping at the weekend (which is very common in France) will struggle. It makes me think stockpiling these essentials is selfish. There must surely be a limit to the amount of toilet roll one person, or even a family, can use in a few weeks! I’m pretty sure the one pack of toilet roll we have will keep us going for at least the next month. We don’t need to buy more.

So in the meantime, I’ll be trying to keep my anxiety under control while keeping up to date with the science and government advice. Focusing on the available information, and not the rumours, will hopefully keep the panic under control.