Blink:

Question: What is faster than a speeding bullet? Answer: Superman!

Question: What is faster than the current global supply chain? Answer: Coronavirus!

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The variants Delta and Omicron, despite people being vaccinated, continue to surge globally. The European region which includes Russia, other former Soviet republics and Turkey has been hit hard. Omicron has been detected in at least 38 of the 53 countries. WHO data shows the region has in recent weeks reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases compared to population size anywhere in the world. Here, closer to home France projects a fifth wave during the holidays which could reach 100,000 new Covid cases a day, up from around 70,000 as the country continues to battle the epidemic.

Consequently, officials are tightening booster requirements and curtailing holiday events to avoid another lockdown.

I have read numerous articles about the global supply chain being broken. McKinsey’s October’s Global Survey monitoring executive’s sentiment regarding the major issues impacting their company’s growth, a majority cited mounting fallout on the supply chain ahead of inflation and the pandemic. Thanks to gifting one family here locally via e-Commerce for the holidays, I have finally witnessed first-hand, concerning the current global supply chain. The trail of three tee-shirts I ordered 12/16 for 12/23 arrival:

• 12/18 ordered process (three tee-shirts in two different sizes).
• 12/19 arrived at sort facility Jinjiang China
• 12/19 departed sort facility Jinjiang China
• 12/20 departed facility Shenzhen China
• 12/21 departed facility in processing center Shenzhen China
• 12/21 arrived at sort facility Shenzhen China
• 12/21 arrived at international airport abroad China
• 12/23 Expected shipment date Wednesday 12/22 – Still waiting for the shipment, no status updates since the tee-shirts arrived at China’s international airport 12/21.
• Christmas Eve still waiting

Based on the current reported 7- day average in France, there were an estimated 364,000 new cases of coronavirus since my order was first processed. It definitely appears the Omicron variant is moving faster than my gift of three tee-shirts or any of the tee-shirts processed at a sort facility in Jinjiang China 12/19.

Joyeux Noël