page_title: Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic
section_title: Consumer goods
hierarchical_section_title: Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic / Consumer goods
caption_attribution_description: Català: 2020-03-14 Desabastiment a Consum Rafelbunyol per compra compulsiva
context_page_description: Medical materials and other goods shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a major issue of the pandemic. The matter of pandemic-related shortage has been studied in the past and has been documented in recent events. On the medical side, shortages of personal protective equipment such as medical masks, gloves, face shields, gear, sanitising products, are also joined by potential shortage of more advanced devices such as hospital beds, ICU beds, oxygen therapy, ventilators and ECMO devices. Human resources, especially in terms of medical staff, may be drained by the overwhelming extent of the epidemic and associated workload, together with losses by contamination, isolation, sickness or mortality among health care workers. Territories are differently equipped to face the pandemic. Various emergency measures have been taken to ramp up equipment levels such as purchases, while calls for donations, local 3D makers, volunteer staffing, mandatory draft, or seizure of stocks and factory lines have also occurred.
context_section_description: Some daily goods have seen shortages as a result of both disruptions to the supply chains and spikes in demand., leading to empty shelves for these products in grocery stores. Affected products included toilet paper, hand sanitiser, cleaning supplies and canned food.
  Various consumer items were reported in local shortage due to either supply chain disruption or unusual demand, including freezers, $100 bills (on one bank in New York City), jigsaw puzzles, Kettlebells, blood, baking yeast, dogs and cats for adoption in New York City, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite, laptop and tablet computers, and small gold bars and gold coins.
caption: Near empty shelves at a Consum supermarket, with ample produce shown in background. 14 March 2020.
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