Perhaps no event in recent memory has affected so many globally as the COVID-19 virus. Of course, the pulp and paper industry is no exception. Many governments have recognized the industry as being essential in these difficult times and thus, allowed to continue to operate. The following snippets are but a few examples of how the tissue industry has faced the virus and what it is doing to aid global efforts to combat COVID-19.

According to the Augusta Chronicle, Beech Island’s Kimberly-Clark tissue mill is working to “ensure a steady supply” of toilet paper for the Augusta area in light of coronavirus-fueled panic buying. The 1,900-employee plant – one of the East Coast’s main suppliers of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle brand bathroom and facial tissue – said it is doing its best “to ensure a steady supply” to the public.

The Effingham Herald reports that Georgia-Pacific’s Savannah River Mill is rolling out toilet paper as fast as it can. Stores around the nation were emptied of toilet paper and other paper goods when consumers started hoarding items in the wake of emergency declarations at the state and federal levels because of COVID-19. The Savannah River Mill, which opened in 1986, features more than 900 workers who make quality tissue, towel and napkin products.

Toilet paper in the COVID-19 pandemic has become a rare commodity as panic buying leaves shelves bare in grocery store aisles across the region and U.S. and a tissue factory in Calhoun, Tennessee, is working hard to keep up. The mill in Calhoun produces pulp, paper and tissue for the retail market, with the tissue product currently thrust to the forefront, according to Resolute Forest Product's global and corporate spokesman Seth Kursman in an interview with the Times Free Press. Kursman is vice president of corporate communications for the Resolute. Kursman said he couldn't discuss Resolute's sales or production data but he confirmed that tissue plants are operating nonstop.

The shelves of some stores may not have products like diapers, but they are weaving through the supply chain, International Paper CEO Mark Sutton told CNBC in late March. “There’s plenty of” diapers, Sutton said on “Squawk Box.” “It’s just got to get the velocity through the system, through the distribution centers and directly to the consumers.” The dramatic increase in demand for the products due to the coronavirus will not last forever, Sutton said.

With store shelves empty of paper products in Putnam County and some areas across the country, Georgia-Pacific said it’s prepared to meet the demands of customers. Sales of bath tissue and paper towels have spiked due to coronavirus. GP’s mill in Palatka produces, among other brands, Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper. “Across Georgia-Pacific and at the Palatka mill, we are working to meet our customers’ demands and are not currently experiencing production issues – but we’re monitoring the situation and will have to continue to see how the national response develops and whether further impacts could arise,” said Mark Brown, spokesman for GP’s Palatka plant, told the Palatka Daily News.

According to The New Paper, toilet paper supply can be replenished quickly and there are no signs it will run out any time soon, leading toilet paper supplier Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has said. Bernard Tan, Singapore's president for Sinar Mas, a group of companies that APP is a part of, said the recent toilet paper frenzy due to the COVID-19 outbreak does not mean that demand has increased, but rather that demand has been brought forward.

As the demand for toilet paper increases, so do operations for one local facility. Cardinal Tissue LLC. It produces the now precious commodity, along with paper towels. The company’s CEO and President, Vince Reese, told Fox News it is making five to six semi-truck loads a day. He says between 250,000 to 300,000 of toilet tissue rolls are produced every day at his facility.

China’s Hebei Mancheng Anxin Paper has recently commenced production on a new 23,000-mtpy tissue machine at its sole mill in Baoding city, Hebei province. Dubbed PM 2, the unit was provided by Chinese supplier Xi‘An Weiya Paper Machinery. It has a trim width of 3.55 m and a design speed of 1,200 m/min. The mill operates another tissue unit, PM 1, which was commissioned in 2018. It has a capacity of 18,000 mtpy.