Supply chain crisis: Empty shelves at grocery stores across the US
Shoppers across the U.S. are confronting alarming shortages of basic foodstuffs, as a variety of factors exacerbate supply chain issues.
Severe winter storms have disrupted shipping in parts of the country over the past week, and surging cases of Omicron are driving millions of absences from work, disrupting basic functions such as shipping, unloading and stocking.
On Monday, the U.S. confirmed a world record 1.46 million new cases of COVID-19, and one economic expert has predicted that five million people, or 3 percent of the national workforce, will have to call in sick this week as the virus spreads.
From Washington DC to Anchorage, Alaska, shoppers are finding uncomfortable shortages as a result and demanding to know when the supply chain issues will ease.
Some shelves are seen nearly empty at a grocery store in Washington, D.C. on Monday
Empty shelves are seen inside a Trader Joes on Court Street in Brooklyn on Tuesday
Shelves sit empty at a Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday. Shortages at U.S. grocery stores have grown in recent weeks as new problems like the fast-spreading Omicron variant and severe weather have piled on to the supply chain
Empty medicine shelves are seen in a Long Island, New York store on Sunday, shared by a Twitter user who blamed ‘#BareShelvesBiden’
Grocer Albertsons, which owns Safeway, Vons and Jewel-Osco, said on Tuesday the Omicron variant had put a dent on the recovery of its supply chain, and expects the issues to linger for a longer duration.
‘There are more supply challenges, and we would expect more supply challenges over the next four to six weeks,’ said Vivek Sankaran, Chief Executive Officer, on an earnings call.
Sankaran also said Albertsons had to deal with several product categories being out of stock for a few months.
Analysts and corporate America had previously estimated supply-chain snafus to ease halfway through the year, but a full recovery could now be delayed because of Omicron-related issues, including labor shortages.
‘For 2022, we expect supply pressures to likely linger for longer, perhaps until the second half of next year before gradually unwinding,’ Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note on Tuesday.
‘It’s like a Soviet store during 1981. It’s horrible,’ one man at a Washington DC grocery store told Fox News.
Some shelves are seen nearly empty at a grocery store in Washington, D.C. on Monday
The fruit section looks bare in a Washington D.C. grocery on Monday
Bare shelves greeted shoppers at this Washington D.C. supermarket on Monday
The nation’s capital was feeling the shortages, as seen in a supermarket on Monday
Bread aisle shelves at a Target are seen nearly empty as the U.S. continues to experience supply chain disruptions in Washington D.C. on Sunday
Loaves of bread were scarce for shoppers at this Target in Washington D.C. on Sunday
A beef display case is seen nearly empty at a Giant Food grocery store in Washington D.C. on Sunday
Only a few bottles of water remain at this supermarket in Washington D.C. on Monday
A display case of juice is seen nearly empty at Target in Washington on Sunday as the U.S. continues to experience supply chain disruptions
Empty chiller shelves at a Giant supermarket in Alexandria, Virginia on Sunday
Flashback to March 2020: Toilet paper is once again sold out at stores across the US, including this Target store in Washington D.C. seen on Saturday
Pharmacy racks are seen empty in a CVS as the U.S. continues to experience supply chain disruptions in Washington on Sunday
A portion of shelves in the cracker section are seen nearly empty at a Target in Washington D.C. on Sunday