Remember no toilet paper? Second round of COVID shortages less severe. They're not as panic-inducing as the paper-towel shortage of 2020, but supply-chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic are still keeping goods off store shelves, even as Rhode Island joins other states in lifting virtually all COVID restrictions affecting businesses. "COVID was a tsunami for all grocers," said Susan Budlong, a spokeswoman for Dave's Fresh Marketplace, a Rhode Island chain of grocery stores. "COVID was a force to be reckoned with. It hurt people. It scared people. It shook people to the core." But, Budlong said, the severe shortages of the early days of the pandemic are gone, with only sporadic shortages of products now.