Our front line: Pharmacies, food stores
Plexiglas shields, regular handwashing and wipe-downs aimed at reducing risk
Grocery store and pharmacy workers have become an unofficial front line in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
And retail operators are scrambling to protect staff who don’t have the luxury of working from home, using typical social-distancing techniques and staying away from crowds.
“Absolutely, we’ve had plenty of concern raised from our members,” said Tim Deelstra, a spokesperson for the United Food & Commercial Workers, a union that represents about 70,000 in Ontario, mainly in grocery, pharmacy and long-term care operations.
“We’re hearing lots of stories from members about huge influxes of people coming in to panic buy. It’s difficult to maintain social distancing when 400 people are crowded into a store.”
He has also heard stories of some members who are refusing to go to work because the conditions are not safe.
Retailers, meanwhile, are taking extraordinary steps. Sobeys announced Friday it is moving to install Plexiglas shields to protect cashiers from the hundreds of customers they would deal with in a typical shift.
“We’ve looked around the world at best practices and these shields stand out as a strong safety precaution,” reads a letter from president Michael Medline. “Last night we began to install the shields in stores.”
Other measures are similar to those being adopted across the industry: markings on the floor to properly distance customers in lines, regular wipe-downs of high-traffic areas, handwashing every 15 or 30 minutes, the reduction of store hours, limiting the number of customers at any one time and rigorous sanitizing of carts and handbaskets.
“We’re definitely concerned,” said Guido Patrice, operator of Patrice’s Your Independent Grocer in Almonte, which has
110 employees. “We’re frontline workers and we don’t have the option or luxury of saying we’re going to close and protect everybody.”
He has marked the cash lines so that shoppers can stay about two metres from each other and created a “do not stand” zone in front of the checkout.
“The only time (customers) should be relatively close is when they have to reach in and tap (the pinpad). And we’re asking that they just reach in, tap, and back off again.”
Cart staff and cashiers are wearing disposable gloves, he said, and are encouraged to wash their hands about every half an hour.
Patrice said he has encountered snowbirds who have come home early this month and arrived at the store to replenish food and supplies. He’s encouraging them to order their groceries online or by telephone — volunteers are helping out — and he’ll provide free delivery.
“If you’re in quarantine, phone us, we’ll shop it and deliver, no charge.”
Patrice said he has also tried to accommodate workers by changing their duties and hours in order to limit contact with the public. He has heard from parents concerned about their teenagers working in conditions with considerable exposure to others and to possibly germ-filled equipment, like grocery carts.
“We are taking all the measures we can,” including bringing portable hand-wash stations for staff. “We can’t close. Then we’d all be in trouble.”
Things were quite orderly at the Loblaws at College Square on Friday afternoon and the store was decently stocked, save for the toilet paper.
Many of the checkouts were not accepting cash, which angered one man trying to buy potato salad and an apple. The express cashier was wearing disposable gloves.
Medline thanked his employees for their work at such a stressful time.
“They have never been so important to their fellow Canadians.”
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ postmedia.com.
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