Manufacturers and retailers both pointing the finger at each other for the shortage. Joan Driggs the VP of content and thought leadership for IRI market research company, explains.

Alex Livingston: So, what are some of the contributing factors that are causing baby formula shortages at some retail locations?

Joan Driggs: I think it's a couple of things. First of all, it's a far different purchase than anything else that you buy in the store. There are shared supply chain challenges all across the board with Omicron trying to keep, or keeping truckers off the roads, keeping people out of stores able to stock the shelves, keeping people in manufacturing plants away from work. So that's shared across the entire supply chain. But what's unique to baby formula is that it's such an emotional purchase. You know, this is not buying breakfast cereal for the family where if your preferred brand or your preferred size isn't available, you can find other options that will tie you over. This is something that you really, these caregivers, these parents, and others really depend on for the baby's nourishment and it's not an inexpensive purchase. 

Alex Livingston:  You know, and that is so true. I didn't even think about that last part that you mentioned, but your data showed that Americans spent $4.3 billion in 2020, and 4.5% from that's up 4.5%. So how has the pandemic in particular played a role in the need for formula?

Joan Driggs: I think that it's not necessarily the pandemic, that's putting the need for formula, the need for formula is always going to be there, it makes me laugh like when we talked about the pandemic at the outside, people went off and bought bottled water and bottled water wasn't an issue, this is strictly just to keep people, you know, babies nourished and I think what happens and why there is maybe more purchase is because of the tighter supply.

If you're someone shopping for baby formula and you see that there are only a couple of cans of your 20 or 30-ounce baby formula that you really prefer, you're probably going to buy them if you can afford to because you're afraid that the next time you go to the store it won't be there and that's exacerbating the problem. 

Alex Livingston: Yeah. So, what do you think is the solution then to this issue I think a lot of it is it's out there like in some way shape, or form, it's probably out there? 

Joan Driggs: Every manufacturer wants to ensure that their customers are happy. Every retailer wants to ensure that their customers are happy. So, I think it really will be dependent on manufacturers making sure that they're getting their most preferred brands out there and then consumers understanding if the size that they prefer or the format that they prefer isn't available like one of the really growing categories, same formula but in ready to drink has been hit just as hard or even a little harder because it's so convenient. 

Alex Livingston:  So, if you have to mix your own, that's a solution, interesting. Okay, so we have about 30 seconds left so really quickly, what does your data predict about the demand for baby formula over the next year?

Joan Driggs: I think again across the board, things are going to level off as manufacturers get their full production up to speed as our supply chain keeps rolling and as retailers are able to stock those shelves, but for now people just have to be a little bit more patient shop around as best they can, and of course maybe try not to stockpile, which would help the whole thing level off.

Alex Livingston at Newsy first reported this story.

As a record number of Americans are infected with COVID-19, largely due to the rapidly spreading omicron variant, some states' health care systems are beset with nearly full intensive care units.

Four states have less than 10% remaining capacity in their ICUs, according to data Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana and New Hampshire.

And as infection spreads, states and health care systems nationwide are handling shortages of available medical workers, who face a greater chance of COVID-19 exposure and must isolate after testing positive.

Members of the National Guard and other federal emergency teams have been deployed to hospitals and long-term care facilities in places such as New Hampshire to alleviate the burden with medical and non-medical tasks.

"This is part of the winter surge, part of the long haul, which is why we put so many of the mitigation strategies and measures in place early on to help provide some flexibility to hospitals and health care systems," New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday.

Five other states are very close to just 10% of ICU capacity remaining, according to HHS data: New Mexico, Missouri, Rhode Island, Mississippi and Georgia. Nationally, COVID-19 hospitalizations have reached record highs with at least 151,261 Americans need care as of Wednesday.

Early research indicates the omicron variant may produce less of a chance of needing hospitalization than prior COVID-19 variants. But omicron's increased transmissibility means more people at higher risk for severe disease, such as those who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised, will be infected.

"Omicron continues to burn through the commonwealth, growing at levels we have never seen before. Omicron is significantly more contagious than even the delta variant," said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Monday. "If it spreads at the rate we are seeing, it is certainly going to fill up our hospitals."

While conditions are not as dire as at the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago due to the availability of vaccines and other treatment options, the staffing shortages in hospitals is a real concern during this latest surge, said Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.

"The problem is that right now we have hospitals where there's not enough nurses to take care of the patients who are coming in, the COVID patients and the non-COVID patients," Spencer told CNN Wednesday.

"That's exactly why we need to do everything we can to try to limit the number of people that are infected, not just those that are older or unvaccinated or not boosted, but everyone. Because each infection represents a potential to infect more people. We need to do what we can to slow that spread right now and ease the pressure on our hospitals," Spencer said.

For those who come into emergency rooms for non-COVID reasons yet test positive, hospitals are still having to invoke quarantine protocols for those patients which puts a strain on operations, he said. And that can have an effect on all patients.

"Right now, we're still seeing sick people that need oxygen, the overwhelming majority of which are unvaccinated. But a lot of the patients that we're seeing right now have underlying chronic conditions that are being exacerbated," Spencer said.

Those patients, he said, can include "someone who gets COVID is dehydrated and needs to stay in the hospital, or someone who gets COVID and is too weak and they can't go home because they're a fall risk. Those aren't as bad in one sense as those kind of classic COVID patients we were seeing before. But every single patient that needs to stay in the hospital takes up a bed. And beds and staffing are what's in short supply right now."

CDC to update mask guidance

Health experts are reiterating the need to wear quality masks as never-before-seen figures of positive COVID-19 cases strike the country.

The U.S. averaged more than 771,580 new COVID-19 cases daily over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University data, more than three times that of last winter's peak average.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to update information about mask-wearing, including the different levels of protection that various masks — such as cloth, surgical or N95 — provide against the spread of COVID-19, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House virtual briefing Wednesday.

Overall, it is important for people to wear any face mask that they have access to, "but Omicron has changed things a bit because it is so transmissible that we know that masks are even more important," Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told CNN Wednesday.

"And if you have the chance, if you have the opportunity, if you have access to a better mask, then the recommendation would be to wear it," she said, adding that N95 and KN95 masks need to be fitted properly to provide the best protection possible.

Vaccines effective with adolescents, study shows

The rate of deaths in the U.S. has remained lower than during last year's winter surge, which is often credited to around two-thirds of Americans eligible for vaccines being fully inoculated, according to the CDC.

The country has averaged 1,817 COVID-19 deaths a day over the past week, JHU data shows. The peak daily average was 3,402 one year ago on Jan. 13, 2021.

However, the latest CDC ensemble forecast predicts a potential 62,000 new COVID-19 deaths over the next four weeks, meaning preemptive vaccinations are still needed.

The age group of Americans who are the least vaccinated remains those under the age of 18, and a new study of real-world hospital data between July and late October points to the effectiveness of vaccinations even for those who, by being younger, are generally at lesser risk.

The findings, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine appears to be 94% effective against COVID-19 hospitalization among adolescents ages 12-18 in the U.S.

"Vaccination averted nearly all life-threatening COVID-19 illness in this age group," wrote the researchers from the CDC and a collection of hospitals and universities, who found that far more adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated compared with those who were hospitalized for other reasons.

Among the hospitalized adolescents with COVID-19, 4% were fully vaccinated, less than 1% were partially vaccinated, and 96% were unvaccinated. In comparison, of those who did not have COVID-19, 36% were fully vaccinated, 7% were partially vaccinated, and 57% were unvaccinated.

Retailers can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Christmas holiday is over, capping months of laborious planning to keep shelves stocked over the busy shopping period. But it may not be much of a respite.

What's happening: A new index from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that tracks pressure on global supply chains indicated a slight drop between October and November.

"The [index] seems to suggest that global supply chain pressures, while still historically high, have peaked and might start to moderate somewhat going forward," the New York Fed's researchers said this week.

But analysts looking ahead to 2022 aren't convinced conditions will meaningfully improve. They say the impact of the highly contagious omicron variant hasn't been fully realized, especially as some countries in Asia try to suppress all coronavirus outbreaks.

Record infections are triggering shortfalls of workers at ports and other transit hubs, while "zero COVID" policies are affecting manufacturers that have been desperate to keep production on track following a surge in demand for goods.

"Already we're seeing labor shortages right across the supply chain," Martin Dixon, director of research products at the consultancy Drewry, told me.

Chipmakers Samsung and Micron have had to adjust operations in the Chinese city of Xi'an, an industrial center that has been under strict lockdown since Dec. 23.

Judah Levine, head researcher at Freightos Group, told me that shipping rates for 40-foot containers from Asia to North America's West Coast fell by about 25% in November as "peak season" ended and "have stayed about level since then."

They're starting to rise again in advance of the Lunar New Year holiday in February, as consuming countries like the United States stock up on items before factories close in China.

Levine doesn't think rates will return to peak season levels. However, he does think they'll stay high "as long as demand stays strong and ports continue to struggle with congestion."

"Those [factors] will only subside once there is a decrease in consumer spending on goods, which, especially with the current omicron surge, does not look imminent," he said. Retailers are also working hard to rebuild depleted inventories, leading to an increase in orders.

A true "back to normal" will happen slowly, likely over the course of 2023, Levine said.

Bottom line: A slight moderation in costs from last fall won't make life much easier for companies across the supply chain. Furniture giant Ikea said last week that it would raise prices at its stores by an average of 9% in 2022 to help offset higher costs, including for transportation.

Some carmakers have also indicated that they do not expect to be able to ramp up production in the first half of this year due to ongoing shortages of computer chips.

"Chip scarcity will also accompany us in 2022, particularly in the first half," Markus Schaefer, the chief technology officer of Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, recently told journalists. "We do not expect significant production capacity increases in the first half of the year."

It's all-over social media right now: forget about shortages of school lunch items. Now everyone is starting to worry about Thanksgiving food shortages.

So what is really in short supply?

Let’s start with the granddaddy of Thanksgiving feasts, the centerpiece for every table: the turkey.

Grocery supply chain expert Pedro Reyes says the problem is there are not enough laborers to process the turkeys.

"The good news," he said, "is there are plenty of turkeys out there. The bad news is the logistics of getting it from the farm to the production or process to the grocery store is where we may see a struggle.

This also rings true for dairy and eggs.

Unfortunately, we may not only see some shortages but also price increases, he says. Eggs are already sharply higher than they were two years ago.

"Well, the chickens, they produce so many eggs per day," Reyes explained. "But if they can't be processed forward, then they have to be thrown away."

Kerry Byrne leads one of the nation's largest logistics companies, Total Quality Logistics.

"Every component of the supply chain is stressed right now due to consumer demand, pent-up consumer demand, and a shortage of labor," Byrne said.

Meanwhile, Reyes warns produce is the next big thing that could be hard to find.

"If you're into cranberry sauce," he said, "I don't want to start a panic, but you probably want to get that now."

And good grief: there could be another great pumpkin shortage.

Yes, just like 2020, pumpkins are in short supply thanks to a fungus.

Lastly, thanks to overseas shipping issues and a glass bottle shortage, you may want to stock up now on holiday liquor if you'll want that cocktail to calm your shopping nerves…

"The import liquor is going to be a problem," Reyes said.

Don't expect a holiday miracle

Kerry Byrne is warning shoppers not to expect a holiday season miracle. "I don’t see things getting better any time soon, because there is simply too much backlog of inventory," he said.

Supply-side experts say your best bet it to grab a couple of non-perishable items when you see them at the grocery store, and not wait until the weekend before Thanksgiving Day.

The bottom line: buying some of these items early avoids price hikes, and stress, later so you don't waste your money.

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CINCINNATI —

The global supply chain crisis is hitting home in many ways.

There is a number of avenues to explore when it comes to items that are now in short supply. But you know it starts getting serious when you mess with Cincinnati favorites like Graeter's Ice Cream.

"A lot of things we're getting about half of what we should be getting," Chip Graeter said Friday while surveying inventory at the company's Reading Road location.

Richard Graeter recounted how the lid adhesive that attaches to the rim of his ice cream pints was about to appear on the endangered list.

"That would have been a catastrophe," he told us.

Longtime pizza parlors like LaRosa's are feeling the pinch, too.

"Packaging's been really bad," lamented Mike LaRosa at his restaurant on Boudinot. "Paper products and cups. Things like that."

If you're thinking Skyline time sometime soon, don't count on chili ranch dressing. They're also experiencing a cup shortage, though they described both as "mild" situations.

"Like many others in our industry, supply chain issues have mildly disrupted our inventory," said Sarah Sicking, Skyline's vice president of marketing. "Thankfully, it has only affected a few items, including one of our sauces and our supply of cups."

Izzy's, another iconic institution in this city, found out this morning some of the rolls it uses won't be available for another two weeks.

A pack of Gulden's Mustard is another spicy sore point.

"They weren't making packets," said John Geisen at the restaurant on Red Bank Road. "We couldn't get packets for three months. So, I bought 150 cases. We went through that."

Izzy's is famous for its corned beef and its pastrami. It comes out of Detroit. But with a shortage of truck drivers, Geisen had to hit the road. He went up there himself and got it.

Improvise or perish.

That could be the working motto at local staples like Izzy's and Graeter's nowadays. You can still get double-buttered coffee cake there. It usually sits on a square piece of cardboard.

"Those are in short supply," Chip Graeter told us. "We can't get 'em at all."

So, he's using round plastic foam containers until that runs out.

Graeter's does a ton of shipping which takes a lot of dry ice. They are getting about half of what they would normally get.

"We get dry ice twice a week and they've had real big production problems where they make the dry ice," he said.

LaRosa went so far as to post a public apology about shortages. He explained why.

"With social media, we were beginning to see posts from people that you guys are not runnin' the business well, you're out of everything, what's wrong with you guys? So, people were kind of making things up," he said.

He asked for patience.

The businesses are planning ahead for the holidays with no shortage of determination.

"Come hell or high water, we're going to make it happen," Geisen said.

CINCINNATI —

Both Cincinnati police and fire departments are short on staff, as they try to find new ways to recruit and get people interested in public service.

The departments said fewer people are applying as the retirement rate stays steady, and they also said going from hired to on the streets takes time.

Cincinnati police officers investigate everything from murders to thefts and car crashes, but the department could use more people on patrol.

"We're probably down about 150 officers right now and the attrition rate doesn't seem to be slowing. So, we have officers that are retiring every day," Sgt. Dwayne Wilson said.

Cincinnati firefighters and paramedics are also always on the move battling fires, helping people with medical emergencies and working in the community.

"We have 193 firefighters that have to be in each seat every day and we're able to maintain that with firefighters on overtime," Fire Chief Michael Washington said.

CFD is short 73 firefighters right now and fewer people are applying, according to Washington.

"Our last fire recruit drive, we had roughly about 3,300 people sign up and we actually had about 1,200 show up for the actual written test," he said.

Wilson, who leads recruiting for CPD, agrees.

"Twenty-five and a half years ago, there was probably about 7,000 people that signed up for 100 spots and you know, this last test we had 2,200 that signed up for 55 spots but only 572 showed up to take the test," he said.

It's a sharp change.

Wilson said the policing profession has been tarnished, tapering off some interest. But he also said it's an opportunity to show police can do better.

"This isn't an 'a-ha' moment for anybody, you know, across the country police departments are having the same issues. Officers are retiring, you know, COVID, for a multitude of other reasons just come toward the end of their careers," Wilson said.

He also said Cincinnati police are working to speed up the process to get recruits into the police academy in six to eight months, rather than nine to 12.

Washington believes the pandemic is a factor but also said the younger generations are drawn elsewhere for work.

"They're interested in other things. YouTubing and influencers or things like that. So, I don't think we're any different than any other industry, but it is something that's alarming to us right now," he said.

To fill the gap, he said CFD has already reached 46 percent of its fiscal year overtime budget.

That budget only started in July. Both said there is promise in those who want to serve.

"Because of the last summer or last two summers, with the civil unrest that they've seen around the country and they want to be a part of making a difference," Wilson said.

They said for now, operations are not affected.

Washington said the sign-ups for CFD have already begun and won't be offered again for a few years. He said the testing process leads to an eligibility list and officials choose people off that list to fill a fire recruit class for about two years.

He also said it takes a couple of years to progress from testing to hired to on the street working.

Washington said at the same time, the department loses anywhere from 40 to 55 firefighters a year through retirement and other means.

He told WLWT that 31 firefighters have exited the department so far this year.

Meanwhile, CFD has a recruit class of 35 graduating in November, according to Washington.

"That will provide some relief, but we will still be about 20 firefighters short daily and there's another fire recruit class that will be started in February of 2022, of 40 additional fire recruits," he said.

Cincinnati police said a recruit class is happening now and a lateral class is next.

They hope to have nearly 60 new officers at the start of 2022.

"We're up against some stiff competition with other businesses that are able to take people out of college, give them a signing bonus and give them a job. We really can't do that because of the process that we have to go through," Wilson said.

CPD also has sign-ups happening through Oct. 31 and tests starting in November.

The department hopes to seat a class of 55 between June and July 2022, according to Wilson.

Cincinnati police will host a community forum at District Three on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. for anyone interested in becoming a police officer.

There, people can find out about the process, the timeline, and ask any questions they may have.

Weary retailers continue to battle pandemic uncertainty as the delta variant causes new spikes in coronavirus infections. But for now, at least, expectations for a merry holiday season remain intact.

What's happening: Data published Thursday is expected to confirm that U.S. retail sales declined for the second straight month in August.

But new forecasts from Deloitte, Bain & Company and Mastercard predict a huge sales boom in the coming months, the most important time of the year for retailers.

Deloitte estimates that holiday sales will increase between 7% and 9% in 2021 as vaccinations help shoppers feel more comfortable venturing out to spend some of the cash they've been hoarding.

"A steady decline in the savings rate to pre-pandemic levels will support consumer spending and keep retail sales elevated this season," said Daniel Bachman, Deloitte's U.S. economic forecaster. "Further, e-commerce sales will continue to grow as consumers demonstrate an ongoing and steady movement toward buying online across all categories."

The consulting firm expects online sales to jump between 11% and 15% year-over-year, reaching up to $218 billion.

Mastercard, for its part, sees U.S. retail sales rising 7.4%. While online shopping could rally 7.6%, in-store shopping is expected to increase by 6.6% compared to 2020. Bain & Company is also calling for a 7% sales growth rate in November and December.

"The pandemic has impacted nearly every inch of the retail industry," said Aaron Cheris, the head of Bain & Company's Americas Retail practice. "However, heading into this holiday season, we also see important tailwinds for nominal retail growth, including boosts from inflation, rebounding employment, healthy savings rates and wage growth."

But wait: Supply chains remain badly tangled, causing shipping costs to soar. Some companies worry that empty shelves and shortages of in-demand products could dampen the mood.

"The demand is going to be there," MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian told CNN Business late last month. "What is not going to be there is the product to fill the demand."

Mastercard thinks retailers will try to get around supply chain concerns, as well as persistent difficulties in hiring workers, by offering earlier holiday promotions in stores and online — particularly for electronics and clothing items.

"This holiday season will be defined by early shopping," Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard, said in a statement.

Investor insight: A spending surge would be good news for retail stocks, which shot up earlier this year but have been caught in a holding pattern in recent months. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is up 45% year-to-date, but has shed 4.4% in the third quarter.

U.S. retail sales for August will provide a crucial look at how spending amidst the delta variant is holding up in advance of the holiday season. A consensus estimate from Briefing.com predicts retail sales dropped 0.7% after declining 1.1% in July.

Data released earlier this week from China showed that retail sales struggled in August, increasing just 2.5% compared to a year earlier. That was much weaker than expected and a dramatic slowdown from the 8.5% uptick recorded in July.

Parts of the South are running out of oxygen supply as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue soaring, primarily driven by the swaths of people who remain unvaccinated and a dangerous coronavirus variant that has been tirelessly infecting millions of Americans.Several hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana are struggling with oxygen scarcity. Some are at risk of having to use their reserve supply or running out of oxygen imminently, according to state health officials and hospital consultants.With the continued uptick in COVID-19 cases, there has been more demand on the oxygen supply, and hospitals cannot keep up the pace to meet those needs, Donna Cross, who is the senior director of facilities and construction at Premier -- a health care performance improvement company -- told CNN."Normally, an oxygen tank would be about 90% full, and the suppliers would let them get down to a refill level of 30-40% left in their tank, giving them a three to five day cushion of supply," Cross explained. "What's happening now is that hospitals are running down to about 10-20%, which is a one to two day supply on hand, before they're getting backfilled."Even when they're getting backfill, it's only a partial supply of about 50%, Cross said. "It is very critical situation."Florida on Saturday had the highest COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the country, with 75 patients per 100,000 residents in hospitals with the virus, according to data from federal health officials and Johns Hopkins University. It also reached yet another pandemic high of COVID-19 cases Friday, reporting 690.5 new cases per 100,000 people each day from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26, state data showed.Dr. Ahmed Elhaddad, an intensive care unit doctor in Florida, told CNN Saturday that he's frustrated and "tired of seeing people die and suffer because they did not take a vaccine."He noted the Delta variant is "eating" people's lungs, which eventually leads to their collapse as well as heart issues."We're seeing the patients die faster with this (Delta) variant," said Elhaddad, who is the ICU medical director at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida."This round, we're seeing the younger patients -- 30, 40, 50-year-olds -- and they're suffering. They're hungry for oxygen, and they're dying. Unfortunately, this round they're dying faster," he said.Elhaddad noted that his ICU does not have a single COVID-19 patient who is vaccinated, nor did he see any vaccinated people die from COVID-19."There's no magic medicine. ... The only thing that we're finding is that the vaccine is preventing death. It's preventing patients from coming to the ICU," Elhaddad said.Florida has fully vaccinated 52.4% of its total population, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed Saturday. Meanwhile, less than 50% of people in South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas, where oxygen supplies are also low, are fully vaccinated. Studies have shown that full vaccination is necessary for optimal protection against the Delta variant.Nationally, 52.1% of the population is fully vaccinated, the CDC data showed.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Hurricane Ida targeting Louisiana when COVID-19 hospitalizations remain highAs Louisiana's overall vaccination rate remains among the lowest in the nation at 41.2%, and the state's hospitals are dealing with hundreds of COVID-19 patients, a hurricane is threatening the region.There are 2,450 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday, which is a drop of 20% in the past 10 days. But, it's still the most the state has had since before the current surge in cases, Edwards told CNN.More than 475 of those patients are on ventilators, according to data from the state department of health.Hurricane Ida is expected to hit the state a major hurricane and possible injuries from the storm stand to compound the risk of health care facilities being extremely overwhelmed, given COVID-19 patients already occupy hospitals at high rates."Evacuating hospitals is not going to be possible because there's nowhere to bring those patients to, there's no excess capacity anywhere else in the state or outside the state," Edwards said."Then you have people who may be injured as a result of the hurricane itself, and so we need to make sure we have some capacity for them," he said. "We still have a very, very challenging situation here across the state of Louisiana," he said. Edwards pointed out that he's worried about lengthy power outages. The state as about 10,000 lineworkers ready to go and another 20,000 on standby to assist as soon as it's necessary."Restoring power is going to be critically important in order to keep these hospitals up and functioning," he said.All of the state's parishes are in the highest risk category for coronavirus, with widespread, uncontrolled transmission and many undetected cases, the state health department said.