A Look At The ‘Supply Chain’ For Consumers And How Coronavirus Could Test It

A sign announces that hand sanitizer is sold out at a grocery store Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee. Sanitation items and other supplies have been in high demand since the coronavirus outbreak.

Mark Humphrey / Associated Press

National banks run stress tests to predict how they’ll perform in a financial catastrophe.

The “supply chain” has no such preliminary measurement. It takes a natural disaster or a pandemic to experience how strong the system is that gets consumers the things they consume.

COVID-19 could be just that stress test.