Concern about the spread of the omicron variant in the US has caused many citizens to leave supermarket shelves practically empty.
No fruit, no meat and no cleaning products: the shelves are empty again in some supermarkets.
One thing to consider is that this variant is causing numerous personnel casualties, which coincides with new problems in the supply chain.
“I haven’t found everything I came to buy; some shelves were empty, I wanted Kleenex and some things to clean, but there were none,” Anne, a 50-year-old resident of Washington DC, lamented this Friday, speaking to Efe at the door of a supermarket, reported ElNacional.
Inside the premises it seemed that a hurricane had passed through the fruit and vegetable section, and finding beef or chicken was a pipe dream, although there was toilet paper, which was conspicuous by its absence at the start of the pandemic.
A few kilometers away, in another supermarket in the center of the US capital, the shelves were full of products.
Problems that come from before
From the Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food, beverage, and home and personal care product companies at the national level, the vice president of Research and Communication, Katie Denis, explained to Efe that These problems come from before.
In this sense, he recalled that the packaged goods industry has faced difficulties in the supply chain throughout the pandemic, which has caused it to weaken and “has left no room for the system to handle disruptions, such as winter storms or the omicron variant.
“That’s now showing up on thinly stocked shelves for consumers,” Denis said, pointing out that what’s going on today is “a labor shortage, not a food shortage.”
In his contacts with industry executives, his association has learned that companies are suffering from high absenteeism due to omicron, which coincides with efforts to make new hires and fill 118,000 vacancies in the health products sector. packaged consumption.
“Unfortunately, we have only added 1,600 jobs in the last month,” Denis noted.
And it is that omicron has been joined, apart from the winter storms, by what has come to be called “the great resignation”, the voluntary abandonment by many workers of their jobs during the pandemic.
In November alone, according to data from the US Department of Labor, the number of people who left their jobs voluntarily rose to 4.5 million, which specialized media indicate is a sign that Americans have more and more Confidence that they can find better job opportunities.
It is not the first time that empty shelves have been seen in US supermarkets during the pandemic: at the beginning of it, in March 2020, there was a shortage of toilet paper, pasta, flour and other products, while in October and November saw a major bottleneck in the supply chain.
Patrick Penfield, professor of Supply Chain Practice at Syracuse University, explained to Efe that in the United States, food stores buy their products in the local market because many are perishable and thus reduce the time needed for an item to be in the market. your stock.
In previous waves of the pandemic, the virus spread differently, as it affected some parts of the country more than others and it was at a different rate, making it easier to adapt and get products from other areas.
Omicron is something that has not been seen before
Penfield stressed that omicron is something that hasn’t been seen before, because of how contagious it is: “It’s hitting the whole of America at the same time, so grocery stores and food producers are dealing with employees who are getting sick.” getting sick or asking to quarantine.
In parallel, the lack of personnel affects the supply chain because the US is not being able to produce as much food as it needs and, in addition, there are not enough people to distribute it and replenish it on the shelves, due to omicron.
Despite these problems, the expert predicted that the current situation will not last long, “probably a couple of months.”
“We are going to see situations in which some areas of the country will have full shelves and in others things will be missing, but I think that towards the end of February we will be able to see that it returns to normality, as long as there is not another variant (of the virus) or not. we have catastrophic weather events,” Penfield said.
To put an end to this panorama, Denis considered that it is necessary for “Washington’s leaders” to focus on actions of great impact.
“Supply chain problems cannot be diverted as a vacation problem and do not end up in the ports,” the expert pointed out, referring to the measures adopted by the government.
In the short term, he stated that it is “essential” that workers be supported so that the supply chain continues to function, such as facilitating access to covid-19 tests and with clear recommendations on quarantine if they become infected.
In the last week, confusion has spread among Americans over the sometimes unclear guidelines offered by health authorities on how long to stay at home if you test positive, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention They will advise reducing the quarantine to five days.
Denis added that in the long term, it would be necessary to increase the capacity of road transport and the visibility of the supply chain itself to identify weak points, before there are shortages, “and here the federal government has a critical role.”
