Minnesota governor: ‘Maybe you don't need to buy three 36-jumbo rolls of Charmin’
A Walmart in Cottage Grove has empty shelves after Minnesotans depleted them of toilet paper.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urged Minnesotans to "be judicious" about their purchases amid the coronavirus pandemic during a Sunday press conference.
Throughout the week, images of empty store shelves have circulated online as Minnesotans stocked up on items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Health officials say people should not be hoarding large amounts of products like these. In some photos, Cottage Grove's Walmart shelves appeared bare. The company announced Saturday that it is working to re-stock shelves by changing its hours.
The empty shelves at a Cottage Grove, Minnesota Walmart show the aftermath of panicked shoppers.
Minnesota's food shelves and Meals on Wheels are currently looking for volunteer and monetary help to deal with what they expect will be a large increase in demand over the next few weeks due to COVID-19.
Walz said he was "deeply concerned" about what was going on at Minnesota's food shelves amid the coronavirus outbreak, saying if there isn't any toilet paper at the store, then there certainly isn't any at the food shelves.
In the news conference, Walz announced the closure of K-12 public schools statewide for about two weeks.