The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. To help keep this news free, become a member and sign up for our newsletter, Incoming.
As grocery stores ran out of toilet paper and sanitation products last March, Benjy Renton scoured the internet for supplies he and his parents could use to protect their home in Rye, New York, against the coronavirus.
Most online retailers were out of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, but Renton, 21, found that Massachusetts-based business supply company W.B. Mason was still taking orders, even though it didn't have the items in stock.
He bought a plastic spray bottle, two bottles of Purell, and four canisters of Clorox wipes. The bottle arrived in about a week, followed by the hand sanitizer a couple of months later. But the wipes never showed up — until now.
"Ordered these Clorox wipes 349 days ago — on March 20, 2020. They finally came," Renton said in a simple, yet truly bonkers tweet Thursday night.
Ordered these Clorox wipes 349 days ago — on March 20, 2020. They finally came.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Renton, who is currently in Vermont for school, said he was surprised to see the package when his mom sent him the picture Thursday morning. He expected there to be a delay but never thought it would take almost a year for the wipes to be delivered.
"To be honest, I sort of forgot about them," he said. "I'm glad they came in the end."
W.B. Mason did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment on the matter.
Now that the wipes are here, Renton isn't quite sure what to do with them. We've since learned that the virus spreads mainly from person-to-person through airborne droplets and smaller aerosol particles — and not so much through contaminated surfaces.
"At first, like some people, we were disinfecting groceries and stuff like that, and obviously we don't really do that anymore," he said.
Renton said he doesn't use disinfectant wipes that much anyway, and, in fact, his family was able to get through the past year with the few containers they already had.
"I think we’ll hold on to them for now, and if there's another need, we’ll definitely put them to that," he said.