Consumer demand for tobacco products during the COVID-19 pandemic continued its roller-coaster trend during April.

When the first round of stay-at-home orders were issued by numerous governors in mid-March, including N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper, traditional cigarettes sales volume rose 1.1% for the week that ended March 22.

Those sales were generated primarily by consumers stocking up. That uptick had some anti-tobacco and anti-smoking advocates concerned that the coronavirus could reverse years’ worth of consumption decline during the social-distance phase.