Chinese Finally Heading Back to Work, HK Shows Need for Preparedness

Caixin: China Factories Stand Ready to Go, But Where Are the Workers?

But despite reopening, resuming full production remained difficult due to staffing issues. Of the companies surveyed, only 21.8% said they had enough staff to run a full production line. Respondents cited Covid-19 related travel restrictions and a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for returning workers as the two biggest factors keeping their shops understaffed. When asked what their biggest challenge would be over the next two to four weeks, 41% cited lack of staff as their top concern, ahead of logistics, which was the next top concern for 30% of respondents.

...Global electronics giant Foxconn, which employs an army of more than 400,000 on the Chinese mainland, is struggling to fill its factory floors after officially resuming operations on Monday. A broader survey of American companies in China released the same day showed that more than three-quarters also have insufficient staff to run a full production line.

If workers are being quarantined for 14 days and the holiday ended a week ago, a return to something approaching normal levels of economic activity should begin next Monday.

Traffic congestion remains lower than normal, but it picked up significantly on Monday in Shanghai and Beijing.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, there are daily fights for toilet paper and rice.

Caixin: Opinion: Why Hong Kongers Are Getting Robbed for Toilet Paper

Fighting for rice and toilet paper in supermarkets continues every day in one of the world’s greatest financial centers, not to mention the hoarding of face masks and disinfectant. You would not expect to see these scenes in such a global city, shocking observers on the Chinese mainland and overseas as Hong Kongers panic more than those in the heart of the epidemic.

Early panic is called prepping. Late panic is called hoarding.