People with an eating disorder have a complex problematic relationship with food which will be enhanced at this time of food insecurity and panic buying. There will no doubt be a plethora of research in the coming months and years documenting what impact COVID-19 will have on the eating disorder community from both a clinician and patient perspective. Before speculating on these potential risks and outcomes, it is worth learning from past similar outbreaks and, where indicated, applying these efforts to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Data involving patients suffering from MERS, SARS, influenza and Ebola [3] were unequivocal in high risk populations (both healthcare providers and patients alike) in revealing a relationship between the neuropsychiatric symptoms experienced, and the outbreak concerned. There are similarities between these past outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic in that such outbreaks resulted in an ever-increasing sense of foreboding and fear, as well as elevated feelings of anxiety and panic and symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. What seems to be even more concerning is that there is now evidence to suggest that these adverse cognitive and psychiatric sequelae may have long lasting effects on people at risk [3].