Panic buying marked early days of COVID January 5, 2021 BY GRETCHEN MCKAY | TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE PITTSBURGH – Courtney Blood was better prepared than many when panic buying consumed shoppers in early spring. The food service manager for Parkhurst Dining Services at Chatham University and Richland, Pa., mother of two isn’t the type to wait until she completely runs out of something to sprint to the supermarket. “When I’m down to my last pound or two of something,” she says, “I start a grocery list.” Meat, yeast, flour, sugar, frozen vegetables, canned and dry beans, and other pantry staples were often in short supply during the early days of the pandemic. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)