It may be giving a lot of families flashbacks; grocery store shelves are bare again for numerous reasons. Almost everyone can remember when the pandemic first started, and the major hoarding that was going on in the grocery stores. It was especially hard to find toilet paper, but other items were hard to find as well. This meant that stores were putting limits on items that a family could buy, and this was a problem for a lot of big families out there who had to go to the store multiple times a week, something that is not ideal when everyone was being told to stay home.According to NPR and WAMU, grocery store shortages are happening again, and mom may have a hard time finding items that she needs for her family. Food is essential, and it is important that mom is able to find the items she needs to make sure her household is fed and cared for.This is another situation that may cause more stress for families out there, and even though it seems like we should be past this, it seems like we are right back to March of 2020.Social media sites are being covered with images from people showing bare shelves in grocery stores, and there are a lot of reasons why this is happening again. While the pandemic continues to be one of the most contributing factors, the winter season doesn’t help. Some areas are being hit with major winter storms, and this can slow down the production and delivery of food items. The Omicron variant is also to blame for this shortage, as it is more transmissible. With more people contracting the variant, more people are unable to work and this means that there are no factory workers, and fewer truck drivers to deliver the food.
Even grocery store workers are calling out sick more than ever, so even if the food is in the building, it is not being put on the shelves as diligently as it was. While no one wants to see anyone go out and hoard food and supplies, this is something that is crossing the mind of a lot of families out there. However, another panic-type situation could make the situation even worse, and while there is nothing wrong with going out and stocking up on food and supplies, families are being encouraged to just buy what they need and not stockpile items.