It’s been going on for over a year already. Why do you think the shelves are empty at the grocery stores? Every time I go to any of the grocery stores here in central NY State, I feel like I’m shopping in the U.S.S.R. Only certain things are available on certain days, and other items just can’t be found anywhere.
I think it’s mostly a supply-line issue now. The container ship Ever-something obstructing the Suez Canal for a week, and now the largest port with respect to container shipping in China being closed because of the pandemic, are amplifying the issues that the governments have caused via the shutdowns. The labor shortage resulted in fewer dock workers in the ports in California, and container ships were lined up waiting to be unloaded and then reloaded with stuff to go back across the Pacific. Some writers connect the labor shortage with the augmented unemployment insurance monies.