SATURDAy, MARCH 14 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ Re A
The coronavirus outbreak
BY ERIC YODERThe Trump administration, us-
ing its strongest terms yet, has
encouraged agencies to allow
more telework by federal employ-
ees because of the coronavirus.
It a lso told agencies to consider
excusing employees from work
with pay if they cannot telework
but are at especially high risk if
infected.
A memo sent to agencies fri-
day morning is more explicit and
more expansive than prior guid-
ance regarding telework, al-
though it stops short of directing
them to allow all employees capa-
ble of working remotely to start
doing so.
“A ll federal Executive Branch
departments and agencies are en-
couraged to maximize telework
flexibilities to eligible workers
within those populations that the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has identified
as being at higher risk for serious
complications from CoVID-
(CDC High risk Complications)
and to CDC-identified special
populations including pregnant
women (CDC Special Popula-
tions),” it says.
The list includes “older adults”
and those with conditions such as
heart disease, diabetes and lung
disease.
“A gencies do not need to re-
quire certification by a medical
professional, and may accept self-
identification by employees that
they are in one of these popula-
tions” to allow them to telework,
says the memo from the White
House office of management and
Budget.
Agencies, meanwhile, were en-
couraged to grant “weather and
safety leave” — excused absence
with pay — to those meeting
those definitions who are not
eligible to telework. Slightly
above half of the 2.1 million exec-
utive branch employees are ineli-
gible, mostly because of the na-
ture of their work or because of
security considerations that
would arise in remote work.
“A dditionally, agencies are en-
couraged to consult with local
public health officials and the
CDC about whether to extend
telework flexibilities more broad-
ly to all eligible teleworkers in
areas in which either such local
officials or the CDC have deter-
mined there is community
spread. Agencies are also encour-
aged to extend telework flexibili-
ties more broadly to accommo-
date state and local responses to
the outbreak, including, but not
limited to, school closures,” the
memo says.
It follows continued criticisms
from some on Capitol Hill and
from federal employee unions
that too many agencies are keep-
ing too many employees in the
office, even though they have
telework programs in place for
this type of circumstance.
o n Thursday, National Trea-sury Employees Union president
To ny r eardon said increased tele-
work is the “absolute easiest,
cheapest thing that agencies can
do” to protect the federal work-
force but that “too many agencies
are still being far too stingy with
it.”
Before the emergence of the
coronavirus, several departments
and large agencies had cut back
on telework, ending it in some
offices while limiting the number
of days it is allowed in others.
However, in recent weeks,
some agencies have increased re-
mote work, for example, when
closing offices after an employee
working there had been exposed
to coronavirus.
The Social Security Adminis-
tration, one of the agencies that
had cut back, on Thursday told its
employees it will expand tele-
work at o ffices in the Seattle, New
rochelle, N.Y., and Santa Clara
County, Calif., areas.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immi-
gration Service has announced a
nationwide remote work pro-
gram.
meanwhile on friday, r ep. Don
Beyer (D-Va.), urged the adminis-
tration to allow all employees
capable of teleworking to do so.
In a conference call with re-
porters on Thursday, reardon of
the NTEU union said: “It is time
to stop thinking about it. It i s time
to implement it and make it hap-
pen.”
[email protected]Federal workers urged to telework
on store shelves, in warehouses
and on the production line to last
several months, but the challenge
could soon be getting that food to
the right places once local distri-
bution centers have been emp-
tied.
In addition, millions of Ameri-
cans who previously got food at
restaurants or in school or work
cafeterias will have to serve
themselves at home with food
bought from grocery big-box en-
terprises.
“The replenishment cycle is
going to be the real test here,” s aid
Sean maharaj, a supply chain
expert and managing director at
AArete, a consulting firm in Chi-
cago. “manufacturers don’t sit on
a lot of extra inventory, so what
do you do when everything you
have is depleted?”
Beyond that, industry officials
acknowledge some uncertainty
about how they will be able to
replenish their stocks if factories
and ports worldwide are short-
staffed. over the past decade,
retailers have moved aggressively
to become more efficient by slim-
ming down inventory instead of
stockpiling.
“We’ve whittled down the inef-
ficiencies to the point where logi-
cal and orderly demand creates
logical and orderly resupply,” s aid
mark Cohen, the director of retail
studies at Columbia Business
School and a former chief execu-
tive of Sears Canada. “But this is a
different situation: This is serial
hoarding — and no part of the
machine that supplies consumers
is geared for this.”
There are some s igns of far-
reaching shortages: Shelves that
normally are full of hand sanitiz-
ers and disinfectant sprays have
remained empty for weeks across
the country. Amazon is largely
sold out of toilet paper, with
shipments that were due to be
delivered t his week delayed in-
definitely. Costco’s website is out
of peanut butter and canned to-
matoes, and the company has
removed its online listing for
Kirkland brand baby wipes. Ama-
zon and Costco did not respond
to requests for comment.
Wegmans, the regional super-
market chain based in rochester,
N.Y., said this week that shoppers
were buying shelf-stable foods,
paper products and cleaning sup-
plies faster than it could restock.
Like its competitors, it has begun
rationing high-demand items
such as bottled water, hand sani-
tizer and toilet paper.
“A s demand for these items
continues to grow and supply
remains limited, we’re working
with our current suppliers and
pursuing additional sources to
replenish our supply,” the grocer
said on its website.
Analysts say the buying frenzy
could end up lifting prices, after
years when chains cut prices
amid growing competition from
Walmart and newcomers such as
Aldi.
“Either prices will start to go
up as we see shortages, or compa-
nies will have to figure out new
ways to move things around,”
said Per Hong, a senior partner in
grocerIes from A
the strategic operations at Kear-
ney, a consulting firm. “Compa-
nies can start to pivot, but there is
no question we’ll see disruptions
because of coronavirus.”
Supermarkets are doubling
down on essentials, such as food,
water and cleaning supplies,
while letting everything else go
by the wayside, according to Brit-
tain Ladd, a consultant to Kroger
and other retailers.
“fresh food, milk, dairy, meat,
eggs — the consumables are the
only focus now,” he said. “Every-
thing else, like dish towels and
candle holders, is of zero con-
cern.”
Among food items, products
such as seafood, apple juice and
garlic, which are heavily sourced
from China, are likely to be hit
first, according to Phil Lempert, a
California-based food industry
analyst who bills himself as the
“supermarket guru.”
“The fact that we get a lot of
food from China, where factories
have been closed, does indicate
that we are going to have a supply
chain problem,” he said. “We’re
going to have two-, three-, four-
month lag time until those facto-
ries get back up to speed.”
In the United States, grocery
chains and distributors are tak-
ing measures to keep the corona-
virus outbreak from spreading to
their workers. Warehouses have
begun limiting visits from ven-
dors and suppliers, while some
supermarkets are toying with re-
ducing their hours, according to
maharaj.
Instacart and other delivery
services are offering “contact-
free” drop-offs to customers’
doorsteps. Big-box stores such asWalmart and Ta rget, which have
invested heavily in store-pickup
and same-day delivery programs,
have been doubling down on
them in recent days, industry
experts say.
many companies have also re-
vised their sick-leave policies in
recent days to encourage employ-
ees to stay home if they feel ill.
“The issue is: Grocery stores
are essentially giant petri dishes,”
maharaj said. “You have a lot of
people touching a lot of food.”
Although grocery stores may
struggle in the short term to keep
shelves stocked, some experts say
current shortages are temporary
supply-chain glitches. American
stockpiles of basic foods are
strong, they say. Lowell randel,
vice president for government
and legal affairs at Global Cold
Chain Alliance, which provides
temperature-controlled storage
and distribution to 1,300 compa-
nies in 85 countries, says he sees
no supply problems.
“It’s not a shortage of availabil-
ity of food,” he said. “It’s nothing
like the situation with hand sani-
tizer. our member facilities are
full, not empty. That should pro-
vide comfort for consumers.”
If anything, he said, the United
States h as excesses of certain
food items, such as pork and soy,
because of a slowdown in exports
to China. The pork industry con-
tinues to run at near full capacity,
slaughtering 490,000 animals
per day, a ccording to Steve meyer,
an economist for Kerns and Asso-
ciates who covers the pork indus-
try.
But, he added, the big fear is
that the coronavirus outbreak
could affect workers.“If we had a major plant that
had two or three workers test
positive, they would have no
choice but to suspend opera-
tions,” he said. “Same would be
true for the beef business.”
fears of a “serious market dis-
ruption with catastrophic impli-
cations for hog farmers” prompt-
ed the National Pork Producers
Council to send a letter to the
White House and lawmakers this
week asking for e xpedited worker
visas and support for farmers
struggling with supply-chain bot-
tlenecks.
John Newton, chief economist
for the farm Bureau, echoed
concerns about the impact of
labor shortages on protein sup-plies. “The bigger concern is the
‘flow commodities’— raising
chickens and milking cows —
where you need access to skilled
labor. If you have labor hiccups, it
could disrupt the ability to get
milk off the farm and process it.
You see that in natural disasters.
The plants close because people
can’t get to work.”
Industry groups estimate that
about one-third of fresh fruits
and vegetables in American gro-
cery stores at this time of year are
imported from mexico, coming
through checkpoints in San Di-
ego, and in mcAllen and Laredo,
Te x., and Nogales, Ariz. Growers
and packers there are following
protocol specified by the Centers
for Disease Control and Preven-
tion and the World Health orga-
nization — eliminating outside
visitors to facilities, limiting trav-
el and having doctors on-site to
assess the health of workers, said
Lance Jungmeyer, president of
the fresh Produce Association of
the Americas. Still, he said, he
worries about what could happen
down the line.
“ If we had an outbreak in the
USDA or fDA, that would cer-
tainly disrupt things until we
figured it out. for a short time,
produce could be stuck at the
border,” he said.
for now, though, many Ameri-
cans are focused on just stocking
up for the uncertain days and
weeks ahead.
on Thursday evening, a Wal-
mart in the District’s Northwest
was largely sold out of rice, flour,
cooking oil and sugar. The pasta
aisle had been wiped out, except
for lasagna and manicotti. There
was plenty of frozen pizza,
though, and the produce aisle
was brimming with bell peppers,
strawberries and five-pound bags
of russet potatoes.
Hundreds waited in lines f or
cashiers wearing disposable
gloves to scan their purchases.
Angie Castro, 35, of Silver Spring
waited among them.
“I knew it would be crowded,
but I decided to come today
because this weekend will be
even worse,” she said.
[email protected]
l [email protected]Industries that feed U.S. fear e≠ect of sickened labor force
JeenAH moon/AgenCe FRAnCe-PResse/getty ImAges
empty shelves Friday in a New York city grocery store. grocery stores may struggle in the short term to keep shelves stocked during the
pandemic, but some experts say current shortages are temporary supply-chain glitches. U.s. stocks of basic foods are strong, they say.“If we had a major
plant that had two or
three workers test
positive [for the novel
coronavirus], they
would have no choice
but to suspend
operations.”
Lowell Randel, vice president
for government and legal affairs
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