Brace for barren booze shelves - that's the warning from truckies and retailers when Omicron hits New Zealand.
To keep supermarkets stocked and the drinks flowing, they're calling on the Government to urgently change who needs to isolate - and for how long. They want to see the Government's Omicron plan.
Supermarket shortages were something many of us hoped we'd leave behind in 2021. But it turns out they could be back for 2022, and supply chain priorities mean this time it could be booze.
"Booze and beer will have to fall to the bottom," Nick Leggett, CEO of Transporting New Zealand, told Newshub. "It will have to be food and medical supplies."
That's because when Omicron breaches our borders, the sheer number of workers sick and exposed could lead to The Great Isolation.
"There will be people who aren't able to go to work which might mean that products don't get on shelves as quickly," says Retail NZ CEO Greg Harford.
Retail NZ has written to the Government calling for urgent changes to who has to isolate and for how long.
"It's really important to look closely at the definition of a close contact and try to minimise the number of people who are off work at any one time," Harford says.
Currently, close contacts have to stay home for 10 days. Even epidemiologist Michael Baker thinks that could be shortened.
"I think there is an argument for shortening that isolation period," he told Newshub.
He said there could be "potentially tens of thousands of people infected at the same time and therefore having to isolate".
"The Ministry of Health needs to look at the arguments both ways, experiences overseas, and come up with what is the best practice for New Zealand."
Industries want that plan now. The trucking industry has also written to ministers asking for an urgent Omicron plan, worried their drivers will be taken off the roads en masse.
"We need confidence now," says Leggett. "We don't need ministers sauntering back from holiday in a couple of weeks and working out there's a problem."
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the Government has been working on it.
"While New Zealanders have been on holiday, our teams have been working very hard to get plans in place around how to deal with Omicron in the community."
Because it's just a matter of time.
