British supermarkets are saying that some products are in short supply and some gas stations had been forced to close after the National Health Service app told hundreds of thousands of workers to isolate following contact with someone with COVID-19.
The contact-tracing app, which users can opt-in to use the service, alerts people with a ping when they’ve come into close contact with someone who has the virus. If they get a ping, people are urged to self-isolate for 10 days.
The Washington Post is reporting that phones are pinging so much because of a “double-whammy.” People are moving around a lot more because of the relaxed restrictions, and there is a surge in the number of Delta variant infections.
It is estimated that 1.7 million people, out of a population of 67 million people, are self-isolating this week in the UK. Reuters is reporting that British newspapers carried front-page pictures of empty shelves in supermarkets, declaring a “pingdemic”.
Empty grocery shelves
The reality of the situation is that the UK is reporting close to 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day. And shops and grocery stores are where it’s easy to see the effect of staff having to stay at home rather than work.
But the reduction in staffing covers much more than just shops and stores. The pingdemic has also created chaos in other sectors, such as food supplies, haulage, hospitality, manufacturing, and the media.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News the government was “very concerned” about the situation but that he did not recognize the network’s characterization of “bare” supermarket shelves.
However, The BBC is reporting that supermarket chain Iceland says it’s recruiting 2,000 temporary staff to cover absences. It’s also had to reduce its opening hours and temporarily shut two of its stores.
Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest grocer, said customers may not be able to find the exact product they want. “Large quantities of products are being delivered to stores daily and our colleagues are focused on getting them onto the shelves as quickly as they can,” a spokesperson said.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) says ministers need to act quickly and allow fully vaccinated workers, or those who had tested negative for Covid, to go back to work.
“With community cases soaring, the number of healthy retail staff having to self-isolate is rising fast, disrupting retail operations,” said Andrew Opie who is a director of food and sustainability at the BRC.
Complaints have surfaced that the app is too sensitive, and Reuters reports that many people are simply deleting it to avoid any hassles.
