Two things - first, he is a manga artist and famous recluse who lets hardly anyone else handle his work...there’s little chance he’s been exposed to COVID; second, it’s been long established that he’s about three chapters ahead of the most recent installment, so I find it hard to believe that we suddenly aren’t getting #992 this week because he hasn’t finished it, meaning Shueisha COULD release it to cover an absence if they wanted.
Like I mentioned to Seth, this is not true. He is only ahead on storyboarding with several chapters. It takes another week or two to fully draw, edit, and typeset the chapter for printing. This does not all get done in one week. It gets staggered with other chapters down the line.
When he gets sick, he is behind already, so they have to delay the manga.
Edit: "Oda usually finishes drawing a storyboard of a chapter 17-19 days before the official release date."
TV show "Real Scope" (19 March 2011)
Storyboarding is not a finished chapter. This is what people mixed up.