Reusable bags allowed again in stores

Reusable bags have been cleared to return to checkout lines in Massachusetts, with a previous ban now removed in the latest round of Baker administration guidance affecting grocery stores.

On Friday, Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel rescinded a pair of earlier orders that laid out required precautions for grocery stores to safely operate amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the rescission notice, Bharel said the two orders’ “COVID - 19 reduction strategies” were now incorporated into the economnic reopening safety standards for retail businesses that Gov. Charlie Baker issued in June.

The newer retail safety standards mirror many of the original supermarket requirements — salad bars and seating areas must remain closed, hand sanitizer should be made available to customers, social distancing must be maintained among both workers and customers, and grocery stores and pharmacies must continue to set aside at least one morning hour each day for shoppers aged 60 and over.

The Department of Public Health’s April 7 guidance limited grocery stores to 40% capacity, while the new retail reopening standards allow 50% of permitted occupancy.

The latest version of the standards, updated Friday, does not include a prohibition or restriction on reusable bags.

Bharel’s now-rescinded March 25 order on grocery and pharmacy operations had prohibited the use of reusable checkout bags, banned grocery stores and pharmacies from charging for paper or plastic bags, and allowed those stores to issue paper or plastic bags despite any municipal bans on single-use plastic bags.