Across the Country, Grocery Store Shelves are Reportedly Empty, Or Missing Key Products

Supply chain shortages have left many grocery shelves bare in the United States. Many are pointing to the number of grocery store clerks who are sick with Covid, or in quarantine due to exposure. In Denver, so many grocery store workers are out on strike, or sick with Covid, that the stores are reportedly bare of food.

In Boston, Massachusetts, customers find shelves bare of produce and fresh meat. Frozen fruits and vegetables are on the shelves, however, for the time being.

In Los Angeles, where I live, the stores generally have most items. There are occasional missing products or categories. Our photographer captured these empty shelves, bereft of women's nylons at Target Store in LA.

China's zero covid policy is said to be one of the challenges facing retailers. "If infections spread, manufacturers will be as badly hit as 2yrs ago, w/few cos having moved large parts of their #supplychains outside #China..." One executive noted a lockdown in the southern Chinese #manufacturing hub of Shenzhen would create supply chain shortages "worse than 2020."

On Twitter, opinions varied naturally. "As a #beef producer I feel I have a good idea of how #SupplyChains work. Oh boy are we ever going 2 learn a lesson w bad policy out of Ottawa concerning US-Can trucker Covid requirements. Going 2 stock up on supplies today. #foodsecurity," tweeted one Jill Harvie.

In 2021, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains and shipments slowed, causing worldwide shortages and affecting consumer patterns. This from Wikipedia.

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic initially slowed the global supply chain as manufacturers suspended work until safety precautions were enacted. Despite rosy forecasts from businesses for the next year, global trade continued at a reduced capacity and did not fully recover. New challenges in 2021, including the Delta variant and reduced access to the COVID-19 vaccine in developing countries, further exacerbated the recovery of global production even as wealthier, vaccinated economies, such as that of the United States and Europe, resumed their patterns of consumption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_global_supply_chain_crisis

Vietnam, for example, is a major provider of American apparel. The country worked through the pandemic in 2020, with a strict lockdown procedure, but outbreaks in 2021 forced many manufacturers to close, especially as workers remained largely unvaccinated. To sustain production in 2021, the Vietnamese government required workers in higher-risk regions to live at their workplace.