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Supermarkets come under “increasing pressure” to keep shelves fully stocked, retail executives have warned as growing devastation from the “pingemia” continues to force thousands of workers into self-isolation .
With stores in some areas suffering from shortages and businesses in sectors ranging from gas stations to the postal service affected by absences, the government is urged to include supermarket staff, truck drivers and other frontline workers. line on a list of those who are exempt from the self-isolation rules.
The government has announced that some industries will be able to apply for personnel exemptions, allowing critical workers who are nuts to return to work after a PCR test and perform daily lateral flow tests, rather than self-isolating for 10 days.
But it has yet to release a list of sectors that can participate in the program, and there will be no list of critical workers exempt from automatic self-isolation; instead, exemptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
With the number of people expected to benefit from relatively low exemptions, bosses are worried and frustrated that thousands of workers will continue to have to self-isolate when questioned by the NHS Covid app.
Andrew Opie, director of food at the British Retail Consortium trade body, said staff shortages could impact opening hours and stacking shelves.
“The current ‘pingdemia’ is placing increasing pressure on the ability of retailers to maintain opening hours and stock shelves. The government must act quickly, ”Opie said. “Traders and suppliers, who have played a vital role throughout this pandemic, should be allowed to work on the condition that they are doubly vaccinated or can present a negative Covid test, to ensure that they do not There is no disruption of the public’s ability to obtain food and other goods. “
The Iceland grocery chain aims to recruit an additional 2,000 employees to help cover absences caused by the self-isolating “pingdemic”, as retailers have warned that it is becoming difficult to maintain opening hours and keep shelves fully stocked.
The retailer said it was forced to cut trading hours and even close some stores as it faced staff shortages caused by workers receiving notifications from the NHS test and traceability app.
Richard Walker, the head of Iceland, said a handful of outlets were forced to close after more than 1,000 workers – just over 3% of the group’s total – were asked to leave. self-isolate after being “pinged” by the application.
However, he said the company decided to hire more staff because the problems were uneven – some stores experiencing much higher vacancy rates than others – while the number of people needing to self-isolate ” was increasing by around 50% week after week, and that was really alarming ”.
Walker called on the government to urgently adjust the self-isolation application or rules, ahead of the changes scheduled for August 16. “Supermarkets need to focus on feeding the nation, not government services,” he said. He said about 96% of people alerted by the NHS app who worked for Iceland had not tested positive for Covid-19.
Reports on social media also reported supermarkets in some areas running out of basic supplies, including milk, eggs, bread and rice.
Tesco said it was out of bottled water in its warehouses, while the cooperative said supplies to “a vast majority” of its stores had been disrupted “due to the impact of Covid / isolation of colleagues “.
A spokesperson said: “This is a short-term but significant impact and has had an impact on our ability to supply stores. These issues impact a large majority of Co-op stores.
The Daily Telegraph also reported that police forces across the country were affected. In Dorset, a third of control room staff were on sick leave after being screwed or testing positive for Covid.
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner has warned the public to expect longer response times to calls. He said: “We suddenly find ourselves canceling days off and canceling time off and bringing in officers from other teams to fill in the gaps. However, our call times will increase, we will miss some calls that we would normally take because we have less resilience in the call center. “
The warnings come as the British Meat Processors’ Association (BMPA) said some factories had already been hit with staff shortages of up to 16%, even without the impact of the pandemic.
“In addition to the underlying labor shortage, we also hear from some members that between 5% and 10% of their workforce has been ‘nutted’ by the [health service] app and asked to self-isolate, ”said BMPA CEO Nick Allen.
The shortage of workers has affected meat products which require more manpower to be produced, he said, meaning these lines would be the first to be cut.
The problem of self-isolation only adds to the shortage of delivery people, especially heavy truck drivers, caused by a mix of Brexit, Covid and changes in tax rules.
BP said industry-wide truck driver shortages were causing temporary fuel supply problems which saw a “handful” of its UK sites temporarily shut down. The oil giant’s supply chain had also been affected by the closure of a fuel distribution terminal due to Covid isolations among staff last week.
However, BP told the BBC that the “vast majority” of shortages were “resolved within a day”.
Royal Mail said that in a “limited number of areas” services were disrupted due to Covid-related absences.
Major retailers say absence rates are currently around 10%, which is well below the peak of the pandemic last spring, but difficult to manage as some stores and product categories are hit harder.
Some stores have absence rates of up to 30%, with the North East and North West of England the most affected, while key deliveries to parts of the country have also been affected.
The surges in demand for fresh fruits, salads and other hot-weather staples brought on by the sudden heat wave also compounded the difficulties. Unusually high demand in holiday destination areas has also led to shortages as delivery systems struggle to keep up.
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