Understanding COVID-19 effect on the U.S. supply chain of strategic products: important factors, current situation, and future perspective

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated disruptions in supply chains, traveling, businesses, and a loss of human lives that is being accounted in at least one million diseased. When the pandemic started, uncertainties, the lockdown of countries, and stay-at-home orders generated that millions of people made runs to grocery stores to buy essential products, the most distinctive being hygiene tissue, antibacterial formulations, and hand sanitizers. Then workers in essential processes in the medical, food, and manufacturing industries had to restart work to keep supply chains running. That generated further repercussions due to the infection of workers in multiple facilities, which created bigger uncertainties. Universities and schools were mandated to close, and work-from-home orders were enacted in the majority of sectors. In this work, we make a review of events and a summary of the important factors, current situation, and future perspective regarding the effect generated by COVID-19 on the disruptions of supply chains. The strategic sectors summarized are food and produce, transportation, paper products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, automobiles, minerals and technology companies. At six months since the WHO declaration, there are still shockwaves that show some unpredictability. Hence, companies and governments should look for strategical plans for preparing for this kind of event, making supply chains resilient or even immune to pandemics, natural disasters and trade wars.