Photos and videos of empty supermarket shelves and people purchasing large amounts of food flooded social media, after Singapore raised its response level to the coronavirus outbreak from yellow to orange on Friday. SMU Dean of Students and Professor of Sociology (Practice) Paulin Straughan condemned the hoarding behaviour as "irrational". She however noted that the hoarding of tinned goods, dried food and rice reflected a concern for the long haul. She explained that most of the time, "irrational acts" such as hoarding occur when there is a lack of information, or if people do not trust the information they are given.