Quarantine - Day 44

Ella on her way to the grocery store

During the last 44 days, a disturbing problem has started to present itself. We have now had two cases of food poisoning so far and thrown out another two pieces of bad meat. So far, the supply lines for our local groceries have been fairly resilient with only the occasional hiccup. Both cases of food poisoning came from visiting area restaurants, which we have relied on sparingly overall. Yesterday, Tyson foods ran a full page ad in the New York Times warning of possible shocks to the supply chain in the future. This morning, the Chicago Tribune reports that pork production is being disrupted by plants closing due to outbreaks requiring farmers to look at the possibility of euthanizing lots of pigs in the near future. According to the Tribune’s reporting, wholesale prices are already trending 20% higher, but this has yet to be fully revealed in consumer prices. Much of the disruption is due to the restaurant/hospitality/institutional markets which consume around 50% of all food production. With the steep, sudden drop in demand, this is derailing production capacity in unanticipated ways.

In other news, back in early April when masks and gloves were difficult to obtain, as an experiment more than anything else, I ordered both items through AliExpress direct from China.  We had cloth masks that our neighbor Chrissy made for us, but I ordered some extra to have on hand.  They arrived some 23 days later from halfway around the world. On the date the order was placed, Target, Walmart, Amazon, McMaster Carr, Grainger, Uline, and American Hotel Registry had all been unable to fulfill my order. AliExpress, with some delay, at last came through.