Because it meant not contributing to the crowds. Not burdening the grocery workers. Not worrying about where to get masks, or gloves, or hand sanitizer. Having

Because it meant not contributing to the crowds. Not burdening the grocery workers. Not worrying about where to get masks, or gloves, or hand sanitizer. Having the right masks, and not having to wonder if a cut-up t-shirt would work. (Remember early on, that wasn't clear.) Because preparation meant being able to actually stay at home during the stay-at-home orders, not "stay at home except for the grocery store and the pharmacy and the gas station and the warehouse club and the pizza joint", which largely moots the point. You survived, which is great, but whatever you were doing to stock your pantry was riskier than sitting at home eating from an already-stocked pantry. It's a game of numbers and odds, and some of those same folks you were shopping alongside were sick, and did get others sick, and did contribute to the first surge in cases that swamped the hospitals. Being prepared meant being able to completely sit out every one of those dice-throws. The more people who are prepared, the better the odds for everyone, not just the prepared.