A time when we need to listen writes Andy Mitchell

What won’t have changed though over three days is the pointless panic buying that’s going on at our supermarkets. Fuelled in the main by urban myths read on social media, it started for some bizarre reason with toilet rolls and now has randomly extended to flour. I’m told the country has also suddenly discovered the art of home baking and are having a crack at making their own pasta. Who knew?

Nobody has actually stopped to ask themselves WHY they’re clearing the supermarket shelves like a swarm of locusts, in the belief there are shortages, when the shelves are replenished again that same day. Baffling.

So back to the advice we are being given about looking after ourselves and avoiding contracting the virus. The advice is clear. If we have coughs and colds, we should isolate ourselves for seven days. It makes perfect sense.

What doesn’t make sense is the attitude of some people when they think they know better than the authorities. Facts at this stage are absolutely crucial, and as journalists, we are doing our best to get them out to you, as we are told them by Government and Council.

What we need in a situation like this is a willingness to accept what’s told us, in the belief that there are actually people who may know more than us on this subject, and then act on it.

What we don’t need right now is a general discrediting of official advice, or worse still, anecdotal stories from a friend of a friend who might have had the virus, who now is now spilling a contradictory point of view all over social media.

Yes we are facing an uncertain spring and possibly summer. Yes things we love are going to be cancelled. Yes we need to look after ourselves and our families, and yes, we need to act on official lines of advice on what is going to happen next. We aren’t all experts on everything, despite what you might read on Facebook. This is the time when we need to listen. Heaven forbid we might learn something that would help us?