News Room

Paper products and other household staples are in high demand in stores and online again as the virus surges and lockdowns loom, but none more so than those essential rolls of soft cotton squares. Photos of bare shelves and public pleas to leave behind a few rolls for other shoppers are overflowing social media. “The toilet paper aisle is CLEARED!” one person wrote on Twitter. “March 2.0 is here folkssss.”

The coronavirus revealed stark vulnerabilities in the supply chains that move products from the raw material stage, through production, and to a customer’s door. As key segments of this system faltered, businesses responded in real time, finding new ways to source materials and keep their products moving. The lessons learned from this experience can help companies transform how they view and build supply chains, says Matthew Elliott, Business Banking Midwest Region Executive for Bank of America.

While the development of a COVID-19 vaccine could generate billions of dollars for some pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, concerns over accusations of exploiting the pandemic will likely temper profits, experts suggest. "It doesn't really make sense to profit from this pandemic," said Tinglong Dai, associate professor of operations management and business analytics at Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School in Baltimore.

New restrictions imposed on restaurants and other businesses this week by Gov. Steve Sisolak to curb the spread of COVID-19 raise a question: What’s the science behind them? The science is imperfect, broad in stroke and balanced by policy and political considerations, health authorities said. “The basic idea is we are trying to reduce the density of people in any environment,” said epidemiologist Brian Labus, a member of the governor’s medical advisory team on COVID-19.

Delivering an effective vaccine is only part of the equation. The region's recovery from COVID-19 also will hinge on Long Islanders' willingness to take the shot, experts say. The public's appetite for inoculations will be a wild card, said Julie Swann, an expert in health care supply chains who advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009.