Items

• 
  April 18, 2020

  Paper Product Shortage

  A sign of the times. Here is the paper product aisle in a Stop and Shop in Staten Island.
• 
  2022-06-17

  Victoria pressed to scrap two-jab Covid vaccine mandate amid worker shortage

  This is a news story from The Guardian by Adeshola Ore. The Victorian government has been pressed to stop the two-jab vaccine mandate due to a worker shortage. "While some industry groups have called for the two-dose mandate to be abolished to help ease the skilled workers shortage, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said the decision was up to health officials." "Almost 95% of Victorians aged over 12 have received two doses of a Covid vaccine."
• 
  2022-06-09

  Pilot Shortage Forces American Airlines To Stop Flying 100 Regional Jets

  This is a news story from Travel Awaits by Amy Sward. Due to a pilot shortage, nearly 100 planes are sitting idle because there are not enough people to fly them. Part of the reason for this pilot shortage is because of COVID. It is due to both buyouts and some pilots being forced into retirement due to age requirements. The shortage of pilots has created hiring sprees where companies like American Airlines are offering better pay and work schedules to lure people into flying for them. American Airlines plans to hire 2,000 pilots in 2022.
• 
  2022-06-10

  From Sourdough to Inflation: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Eat

  This is a news story from Eater by Jamie Feldmar. This chronicles the changing food habits of people throughout the pandemic. In 2020, there was a wave of panic buying for things like flour, canned soups, and frozen vegetables. The use of grocery store delivery apps also increased that year. Instacart, a grocery delivery app, saw a 229% sales increase. With the panic buying came people looking for ways to use up things like canned goods and dried pasta. Things like sheet pan dinners, salads, and other easy meals became sought after in that time. Another change that occurred was people trying food trends popular during the pandemic. Things such as sourdough and whipped coffee were major food trends of that time. Meal kit delivery rose during the pandemic. Blue Apron had subscriptions to their food service skyrocket. Hello Fresh did as well, and was forced to close down temporarily to hire 3,000 extra workers to tackle the rising demand. In 2021, other food trends occurred while many restaurants and other dining establishments could not operate at full capacity. Things like espresso martinis and the dalgona candy, and candy made popular by the TV show Squid Game, were just some of those food trends. The food trends were not without labor issues though. In October 2021, Kellogg's workers went on strike, which affected the supply chains of that brand. Supply chain issues have become an ongoing problem since the beginning of the pandemic. In February 2022, the US temporarily shut down avocado imports from Mexico, making the food more expensive. With supply chain issues comes rising inflation. According to the USDA, food prices in 2022 were expected to rise between 6.5% to 7.5% increases. The Russian war with Ukraine cited as one of those causes. May 2022 saw a baby formula shortage, where 40% of baby formula was out of stock. Today, the USDA is looking to learn from the pandemic and the food issues that are occurring. One way they are doing this is through "a framework to transform the food system," which has the focus on building a more resilient supply chain while providing for rural and underserved communities. My own prediction is that the supply chain issues will mean more local food and less imported food overall in the United States. This means opening more food processing plants and increasing work domestically within the food industry to meet demands. The global food system is very fragile to things like pandemics and war. If food prices are to ever get lowered as well, it is important that more food gets produced and used locally. It would have the added benefit of being more environmentally friendly too, as the food would not have to be shipped as far away to where it gets used.
• 2022-04-20

  Oklahoma Outbreak: an okie boys experience with COVID-19

  Looking back at the beginning of the pandemic seems surreal. I remember hearing in December 2019 or January 2020 about some sickness in China. However, I had lived through the Ebola scare and multiple different flu outbreaks and my life had not changed day to day. People would get scared and then it would pass after a couple months with little effect. This would turn out to be different and unlike anything seen in the developed 21st century world. I left my school for Spring Break and though I would return to my final days at Mustang HS and the fun events that came with graduating. My family and some friends traveled a few hours from our house to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and stayed nearby in Medicine Park, Oklahoma. It was a sleepy turn of the century resort town that had seen better days when the rich and powerful of Oklahoma had made it a vacation spot. Although not as popular as it once was, it is being rediscovered by local people for its natural beauty and relatively cheap costs. It seemed like a normal vacation, and we did not see very many people as it wasn’t yet summer and there are not that many locals. We hiked trails at the wildlife refuge and went into town for food and trinkets. It was a nice quiet start to the week. Then all of the sudden everything began to change. We watched the news and saw on social media that the virus that was a world away had now made its way to America. We still were not very worried because we were pretty isolated, and either were hiking outside on trails with little activity or tucked away in our cabin playing games and hanging out. Then cases started to explode, the economy started collapsing, people were getting sick everywhere and no one knew what to do. We went into a restaurant in town and did not know how to act; we were all rubbing germ-x all over ourselves and keeping our distance as best we could. At this point we still figured it would all blow over after a few weeks. As our spring break drew to a close, our school let out a statement that we were not going back the next week. This was exciting news and I figured it was all just a precaution and I would be back in class the week after with all of this just a big laugh and some extra time off. Boy was I wrong. On the drive home my dad, who is a semi-prepper, was coming up with all sorts of scenarios and making plans for if the world collapsed but it honestly still felt like we were only entertaining ourselves. As we rolled back into my town, it looked like a beehive had exploded. People were driving crazy, every gas pump was full, and the Walmart was almost wiped out. That is when it started to sink in that things might be worse than I first thought. Then the first deaths started getting reported and it really seemed serious. I never went back to a high school classroom. My whole life changed from that point on. My first 2 years of college seemed almost fake and as of right now I have had COVID 3 times; the original, delta, and omicron. My family has also had it multiple times. We were some of the lucky ones to make it through with no lingering problems and for my older family members, with their lives. It is now April 2022 and things have finally started to go back to somewhat normal, but another wave could happen at any time. Corona Virus has changed our world and is going to be with us forever.
• 
  2022-04-07

  Global Shortages

  This is an Instagram post by leventerkan. This user brings up the problems with shortages of raw materials as a result of the pandemic. Due to these shortages, prices of items have also been rising, leading to more inflation. At the end, it talks about how the war between Russia and Ukraine is making the supply chain issues even worse, as it is freezing up some industry, which could delay any return to normal conditions.
• 
  2020-03-17

  An abundance of shortages

  On March 17, 2020, I went shopping for the first time since schools and facilities closed nationwide just four days earlier. Much to my dismay, upon entering my local Target, I noticed that shelves in every part of the store were empty, however, I specifically remember shortages of canned goods, paper towels, and tissue paper. I continued to shop and collect what I could, all the while wondering what else would be in short supply in the coming days. During this time, families across the nation (including mine) began to ration food and focus on purchasing essential items when they became available. In retrospect, the mass shortage not only demonstrated how the pandemic impacted all parts of life, but it also revealed how accustomed Americans are to having various items available in abundance, which I believe is sometimes taken for granted.
• 
  2020-03-09

  Impacts of Covid-19

  I uploaded a photo of the toilet paper shortage during the covid-19 pandemic. I found this photograph the best suited to show the effects of the pandemic. Shortages are occurring everywhere since the pandemic has started which is also affecting our supply chain. This is important to me because the photograph shows struggles we individuals had to face from covid-19.
• 
  2021-04-23

  Shipping during COVID-19: Why container freight rates have surged

  UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) included an article on their website which examines the shipping container shortage. More broadly, it comments on the staggering domino effect of the pandemic on industry and consumers and offers future solutions for avoiding current problems. The article concludes with a section that provides insight into how to avoid shipping container shortages in the future.
• 
  2021-03-29

  Her pet chickens were a source of emotional support during the pandemic. Then, the predators came.

  Though research in this area is often qualitative and findings have at times been disputed, studies suggest that interacting and forming bonds with animals, such as dogs, might have a positive effect on a person’s well-being. During the past year, in particular, many people have reported that pets played an important role in helping them cope with the physical and psychological tolls of pandemic life. Animals provide companionship and can offer unconditional affection, which people don’t always get from other humans, said Lori Kogan, chair of the Human-Animal Interaction Section of the American Psychological Association and a professor at Colorado State University. Owning pets can also help people maintain a schedule and feel a sense of responsibility, Kogan said. Although existing research has largely focused on more traditional pets, she said, “raising chickens can provide an incredible amount of emotional support.” Plus: “Chickens have their own little personalities. They’re very funny. They’re very cute.” For Kelly Rutkowski, 38, of Ashland, Va., her chickens are her “therapy.” “Just going out with them and just caring for them, interacting with them, it makes me happy,” said Rutkowski, founder of the Adopt a Bird Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of adoptable birds in animal shelters and rescues nationwide. In addition to hens, Rutkowski also keeps a “bachelor flock” of roosters. “I know we’re missing out on being able to go out and do things and stuff, but being with the chickens is just an experience which makes it easier,” she said. “I’d say they’re just as fulfilling as a dog or cat.”
• 
  2020-03

  Baking: Impossible

  Back in December of 2019, my wife and I were visiting my parents and grandparents in Mesa, Arizona. It was Christmas time, so we were enjoying a bit of leisure time that we typically didn't have. I had just graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a degree in History Education, and my wife just finished a rigorous semester in her study of English at the same school. We were ready for a break. Before meeting up with the family, my grandmother brought up the idea to teach my wife and I how to make homemade bread. It was her grandmothers recipe, and I loved it, as she would occasionally make the dough to make scones or kraut biscuits. This particular recipe made a lot of dough and needed to rise three times. Because of this, making bread was an all day event. Just a few short months after learning to make bread in my grandmother's kitchen, COVID-19 shut down the world. We were living in Rexburg, Idaho at the time-a small town of around 28,000 people located in south-east Idaho. Given that we were in a rural location, we didn't feel the immediate effects of the virus like Seattle, New York City, and Los Angeles. However, around early March, schools shut down and we were told to stay indoors whenever possible. Given that I was a teacher, I was suddenly learning how to run applications like Google Classroom to teach from home. The school district wasn't sure how long I would be working from home for. Initially, they only wanted to close for two weeks to deep clean the school. However, this ended up lasting through the end of the school year. My wife was now also at home. Her studies switched from in-person courses to online courses. Professors who had spent their life in the classroom were suddenly figuring out how to teach via a new medium. It was challenging for all, but everyone seemed to be more patient with each other. Given that my wife and I were home, and given that we had more time, we decided that we would make the bread recipe that my grandmother had taught us over Christmas break. Everyone was encouraged to only shop when absolutely necessary, so we added the flour and yeast to our shopping list. However, when we went shopping only a few days later, the baking isle had been decimated. The only types of flour that were left were expensive bags of specialty flour that came in much smaller portions. Yeast was nowhere to be found. Even things like baking soda were gone. When I think back to the early days of the pandemic, I think of panic. While my wife and I were able to remain calm, many people worried they would not be able to find basic necessities. Grocery stores ran short on many items-toilet paper, canned food, flour, sugar, paper towels, cleaning supplies, amongst other things. Many things that were taken for granted were now an uncertainty. So while we did have more time on our hands, baking bread wasn't an option.
• 
  2020-10-07

  Pandemic gardening: More than half of Canadians were growing their own food at home this year, study shows

  Gardening and growing one's own food became more widespread during the pandemic, led by worries about food shortages and prices along with the desire to engage in new hobbies during the pandemic. This article discusses a study done by Dalhousie University regarding Canadians' growing their own food during the pandemic and compares the current gardening trend with the victory gardens prevalent during World War II.
• 
  2021-07-13

  Indonesia’s Daily Cases Surpass India, Marking New Epicenter

  Indonesia surpassed India’s daily Covid-19 case numbers, marking a new Asian virus epicenter as the spread of the highly-contagious delta variant drives up infections in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The country has seen its daily case count cross 40,000 for three straight days -- including a record high of 54,517 on Wednesday -- up from less than 10,000 a month ago. Officials are concerned that the more transmissible new variant is now spreading outside of the country’s main island, Java, and could exhaust hospital workers and supplies of oxygen and medication. Indonesia’s current numbers are still far from India’s peak of 400,000 daily cases in May, and its total outbreak of 2.7 million is barely a tenth of the Asian giant’s 30.9 million. India, with a population roughly five times the size of Indonesia’s 270 million people, saw daily infections drop below 39,000 on Wednesday as its devastating outbreak wanes. The Southeast Asian country reported about 900 deaths daily on average in the past seven days -- compared to just 181 a month ago -- while India reported an average of 1,027 daily fatalities.
• 
  2020-07-16

  How Have Pet Birds Been Affected by Covid-19?

  Northern Parrots, a bird blog and store in the UK, writes that pet owners are worried that their feathered babies could contract COVID-19. All the evidence shows that is highly unlikely. The blog post also mentions that birds are also affected by lockdown and quarantine in both positive and negative ways. One positive is that their owners are spending more time at home. On the flip side, favorite friends and visitors aren't coming to visit, and sometimes it is hard to find the foods they want. The article mentions Madeira cake, but in my personal experience it was often difficult to find fresh organic produce for awhile. The article goes on to talk about parrot conservation during the pandemic, particularly in Central America. There are fears that people out of work may turn to poaching as a resource for quick cash. Also a beloved ornithologist, Luis Fernando Díaz Chávez, who was important to Paso Pacifico's conservation efforts passed away from COVID-19.
• 
  2020-12-09T17:33

  First Year of Marriage and the Pandemic

  I got married on May 11, 2019. There were no masks and no need to distance from each other. In July 2019, I got my first job working for my grandma as her caretaker. Since I had graduated ASU, I didn't have much going on, and I needed some way to occupy myself, as well as make money. I did things such as picking the oranges that would fall from the trees in her backyard and trash them so the area would look nicer. I cooked, I cleaned, and I assisted her in computer tasks that she didn't understand how to do. In December of 2019, my grandma had a few unfortunate things happen to her. First, she got pneumonia and had to be taken to the emergency room. She survived, but was weak. Later on, she ended up falling, and was then taken to a care center so that she could regain her strength and do physical therapy. When my grandma came back from the care center in January, I had a new job. Learning from what the physical therapist taught me, I used the exercise recommendations for her and helped her walk better again. It was no easy task, as my grandma can be quite stubborn, but luckily, she was willing to take direction from me in order to move around easier. We have been doing the physical therapy as part of her daily routine ever since. Due to my grandma's worsening condition, my mom and dad decided to move to my grandma's house in January, leaving the apartment mostly to me and my husband. This change was greatly welcomed, and it felt like we could experience married life without my family intervening nearly as much. Overall, January was a pretty good month for me and my husband. One of the biggest events that happened to me before the virus was the death of one of my cousins. On February 11, 2020, he commit suicide. It was a jarring experience. He had lived nearby with his wife and kid and helped install new electrical outlets in the apartment me and my husband were sharing with my parents until a new apartment opened in that same complex. Despite this, we were able to have a normal funeral, which was nice since it gave me some closure. I mostly felt bad for his wife and kid he left behind, since they would now have to figure out how to continue without him. By the time February hit, I was well aware of the virus by this time, but I was sure that majority of the problem was in China. Earlier that month, I had gone to the Dominican Republic to do some volunteer work, as I knew how to speak Spanish. I noticed travel restrictions to and from China at that time, and thought that the travel restrictions could help. This is why I mostly thought the pandemic was mostly China's problem. This idea was quickly changed when March hit. When March 2020 hit and there was a declaration of national emergency, I was very stressed by it. I kept on having images flash in my head of empty grocery aisles that I've seen from social media. Due to the panic that had occurred over the national emergency declaration, the grocery store in my area was completely out of eggs, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer, and the meat aisle was nearly emptied. There were rations on the amount of canned goods you could get. Me and my husband were able to grab a few, some of which my husband said were the "good ones that no one wanted". After that, my anxiety lessened and I felt like I could handle it. I was wrong, as I was not expecting full lockdowns later that month. By the time April came along, the lockdowns felt so severe to me that I couldn't escape anywhere. Bedsides my husband having to comfort me, one of the only things keeping me sane was the job of working for my grandma. I became even more thankful for that job since had I gotten a job in the service industry, or even a basic office job, I would have likely been let go due to being too new. Additionally, I was working full-time for a while, so money wasn't as much of an issue for me as it was before I had gotten the job. April was also when I had one of my worst anxiety attacks, and so to help me, my husband took me out to get some fast food and eat in a parking lot in order to not feel so enclosed. March felt similar to April. The big difference here though was that my brother had to come back from his LDS Church mission six months earlier due to the pandemic, so we ended up having someone new to live with when he got back. One of the nice things my family did, since church services were changed due to the virus, was having by brother bless the sacrament, as he had the authority to do so. By dressing for church and having it at my grandma's home, I was able to feel a bit more normal again, which helped me reduce my anxiety. When May hit, it was me and my husband's one year anniversary. For this special occasion, I booked an Italian restaurant and were able to dine-in for the first time in months. As more places started to open up, I felt my anxiety decrease, as I knew I could enjoy more things again. I am now writing this all in December 2020. The endless monotony of living without as many places to go has made this year feel like both the longest and shortest year that I have experienced. I know that things will change and things will go back to normal, and that is one of the things that is keeping me happy. My anxiety is the worst it has ever been this year due to the restrictions on everyday life, but I've learned that I can live through it, with the help of my husband. This was a trying year for many people's marriages, and to have this experience within the first year of marriage has made me realize how much I depend on my husband, but also that we can get through many tough things together.
• 
  2020-04-15

  How COVID-19 Caused a Shortage of Toilet Paper

  As the pandemic began, the shortage of toilet paper became quite severe. Several people were unable to get get a hand on a package of toilet paper, leading them to desperate measures of cutting up paper towels in order to substitute the toilet paper.
• 2020-07-03T11:54

  COVID-19 in My Small Suburban Town of West Chester, Pennsylvania

  In my small suburban town of West Chester, Pennslyvania, the effects of COVID-19 were abundantly evident. People of all ages were impacted in significant ways. High school graduates were forced to stay home under Governor Wolfe's stay at home advisory during a time sacred to spending time with peers before college takes us our ways. The elderly worried about the safety of doing basic tasks like grocery shopping, most likely contemplating if this basic need will be an ill-made or possibly fatal decision. Another major event to be noted was the shortages of food and other necessities in the supply chain. This was a real wake-up call for many families in my town. Anxiety and panic definitely could be seen in everyday homes. I recall my one friend racing to Costco after hearing a small supply of toilet paper was in stock. He ended up spending a couple of thousand dollars, filling five carts to the brim with essentials. The sight of many bare shelves triggered this spontaneous decision to hoard. Many families acted similarly in my area, believing that the only option was to prepare to outlast a complete shutdown. While many businesses were forced to shut down, a local dairy farm called Bailey's Farm took advantage of the situation. It proposed a unique solution to the food shortage. Bailey's Farm began to increase its food output by collaborating with local farms across West Chester and Kennett Square. This agreement lessened competition among farms, allowing farms to focus on producing goods that they are most efficient at producing. Bernards Orchard grew a variety of fruits. Baileys Farm increased its milk and cheese production by adding more cows to their grassland. Northbrooke farms sold local pies, bread, pastries, and their famous apple cider donuts. Many other farms contributed to this network; however, these were the farms that I primarily worked with. These farms began to deliver goods to the doorstep of families. This solution relieved families from worrying about contracting COVID-19 in grocery stores, running out of food during a shortage, and simultaneously supported local farms. At the beginning of summer, I had hours of free time; I was advised to stay home and limit interactions with my friends. To utilize my time wisely, I began to look for work to have savings for college. Jobs were scarce because of the many closed businesses. I was beyond grateful when Bailey's Farm reached out and hired me as their new milkman to drive their refrigerated truck. Yes, I occupied the small niche of a milkman during a Global Pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-27

  Toilet Paper Shortage During Pandemic

  While many of us living through the pandemic understand the meaning behind this photo, future generations may not. This photograph was taken by a Walmart employee when his store had received a shipment of toilet paper. During this time of the pandemic, toilet paper was a hot commodity and would not stay stocked on the shelves because so many people were buying it. Although this is not an item that we may think of as essential during a pandemic, toilet paper was difficult to come by and the employees had put this out on the floor as soon as it had come off of the truck. Before they could put the item on the shelves, people had already grabbed it from the pallet.
• 
  2020-07-02

  World-Wide Roller Skate Shortage

  Roller-skating has recently become a viral trend, to the point that major skate companies have been sold out for weeks. While the hobby has been alive and well within Black and skate communities, it has had a massive resurgence in popularity in the mainstream.
• 
  2020-10-06

  Pet shortage in SF

  The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many people into social isolation, and also provided the free time necessary to care for and train new pets. The resulting surge in dog adoptions has led to a shortage of adoptable animals in San Francisco shelters, and the pet sales industry made a record-breaking $100 billion this year. Since puppies can no longer be commercially shipped, a company called PuppySpot has taken to chartering private jets to transport animals bred in the Midwest to the Bay Area. With no end to the pandemic in site, demand has continued to rise.
• 
  2020-04-20

  Grocery Shopping During a Pandemic

  When COVID-19 became classified as a pandemic the United States started to shut down. As a result, grocery stores experienced long lines and shortages. Toilet paper, bathroom essentials, and cleaning supplies quickly sold out and became a difficult commodity to purchase. These shortages went on for months. The importance of this is to demonstrate how unprepared humanity is for an event like COVID-19. Seeing these pictures and experiencing the long lines and shortages for myself made me realize how dependant I am on the grocery store. This experience gave me a sense of awareness. I became aware of how easy it was for me to go to the local grocery store and get what I needed before COVID-19; additionally, I became aware of how quickly that can change.
• 
  2020-03-31

  Coronavirus shoppers

  This comic shows how much of an impact the coronavirus had on grocery stores and shoppers. It also shows how people could have overreacted to the fact that they can't find toilet paper or foods like spaghetti sauce. The main focus of this comic though is the doctor who is looking at the other row of shelves. The shelves are labeled, "face masks," "test kits," and "ventilators." This shows how not only food was a shortage, but also very important medical supplies that were needed to keep people alive. This is important to me because it shows the different struggles between everyday necessities, and what people need to stay alive.
• 
  2020-09-03

  The Billion Dollar Hand Sanitizer

  This meme is bringing light and making fun of the price inflation of relatively cheap common items. Once the pandemic officially made its way into America, there has been a shortage of items such as Hand Sanitizer, Masks, Toilet Paper, and other common essentials. This has led to the price inflation in these goods. At one point during the Pandemic, I found a pack of six Purell Hand Sanitizers going for more then 80 dollars.
• 
  2020-07-22

  Bay Area Hospitals Say Remdesivir is in Short Supply

  According to Bay Area health officials, the only drug that is currently effective in treating COVID-19, Remdesivir, is short supply. This is incredibly concerning. While Bay Area counties are on the California state watch list, health dashboards do not indicate an outbreak. If there is already a shortage of this drug, what happens if there is indeed an outbreak? Concerns from ICU headroom and staffing have been highly publicized. But even without an outbreak, we may run out of the drug needed to effectively treat this virus. As restrictions ease up across the state, I hope people are mindful of the horrific realities that await us all if people are not abiding by the social distancing and mask mandates.
• 2020-05-24

  Toilet Paper Is Your Prize!

  Of course, you've heard all about the toilet paper shortage, the hoarding of it, and the bare shelves where toilet paper used to be. This is a humorous meme offering toilet paper as the prize--if you can grab it with the big claw. These games are notoriously difficult to win with, too.