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One of the fallouts from the coronavirus pandemic has been the spike in prices for essential goods like groceries. In fact, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices have reached a 50-year high.
“The food at home index increased sharply in April, rising 2.6 percent…its largest monthly increase since February 1974,” the numbers state, via ABC-13 News.
The spike comes ahead of Memorial Day Weekend where many Americans celebrate the warming weather with cookouts and grilling. However, due to lockdown and social distancing measures, along with the increased price in products like poultry and other meats, those Memorial Day plans could drastically change.
Per the statistics, grocery prices have increased by 2.5 percent while other products like poultry, fish, meat, cereal, baked goods, and non-alcoholic beverages sale more significant increases.
The biggest increase in price was for eggs which jumped a whopping 16 percent.
With lockdown measures still in place and more people cooking at home than ever before, there is no telling when prices could begin trending back towards normal.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 80,500 deaths in the United States and more than 1 million confirmed cases — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
