In the week up to 21 July 2021, it was reported that 689,313 alerts were sent to those who were identified as coming into close contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. As a result, many businesses, transports and councils are struggling to maintain operations due to staff shortages.
Which Sectors Have Been Affected Most?
Transport
According to the RMT union, a number of mainline railway signal locations are currently at ‘critical levels’ when it comes to staff shortages. Its general secretary said that one location has 17 signallers pinged and told to isolate.
Trains and buses all across England have been cancelled last minute and several tube lines were closed in the past few weeks when the staff in control rooms and signalling stations were made to stay at home.
Healthcare
Hospital bosses have claimed staff isolations are seriously affecting their ability to deliver effective care. Chris Hopson of NHS Providers has called for a solution as a matter of urgency as the NHS continues to attempt to handle a huge backlog of routine care whilst simultaneously treating the rising number of patients with coronavirus. As a result of staff shortages, Tyneside and Sunderland NHS foundation trust have asked their employees to postpone their holidays.
Councils
Many homeowners have complained as garden waste collections were hit hard and a number of councils such as Liverpool City and Bristol Waste suspended their collections, with some failing to be collected for ten weeks after reporting a ‘significant reduction in drivers’.
Retail
According to many retailers, the NHS COVID-19 app alerts have led to severe staff shortages with up to 30% of staff out of work in some shops. This has caused a chain reaction with staff shortages leading to a disruption in deliveries and stores running low on their supplies. Food, home and grocery retailer Marks & Spencer has said it has had to reduce its opening hours in some stores whilst shops such as Iceland have had to temporarily close some of their stores.
Schools
According to the Department for Education, over 1.05 million state school pupils were forced to miss their classes on 15th July due to coronavirus-related reasons, a record high since they returned back to school in March, representing one in every seven students.
Hospitality
Roughly 3 million hospitality employees nationwide have been forced to isolate and whole teams have been sent home after all being ‘pinged’ at once, causing pubs and restaurants to temporarily close. Greene King, a pub chain, has revealed it had to close 33 of its pubs at the end of July, leading to significant losses in income.
Manufacturing
Factories across the UK have reported struggles due to such large numbers of staff having to isolate at once. This has led to some plants having to close and others cutting output.
How Has All of This Affected the Economy?
With so many businesses either reducing their hours due to staff shortages, selling less due to low stock levels or failing to operate at all due to closures, it’s no surprise that the ‘pingdemic’ is starting to have a serious impact on the economy.
Fortunately, the government has set a date of 16 August 2021 for when fully vaccinated people will no longer need to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive. Despite the end date being in sight, many people have taken matters into their own hands to end the ‘pingdemic’, with around 20% of UK adults deleting the NHS COVID-19 app to prevent themselves from receiving the alerts.
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