What’s in store: Groceries installing barriers amid outbreak

4UI1&<, 0ass. ² *ro cery stores across the U.S. are installing protective plastic shields at checkouts to help keep cashiers and shoppers from infecting one another with the coronavirus.

At a Stop Shop super market Thursday in 4uincy, just south of %oston, shop pers paid for and bagged their groceries, separated from employees by newly in stalled see through barriers.

³I think it¶s a great pro tection for customers ... and the cashiers,´ said Jasmine 9a]Tue], a home health aide shopping for a client. ³We¶re supposed to be 6 feet away, but we¶re closer to them. So that protection helps, and I feel safer.´

The measures are ³all about safety for our custom ers and our associates,´ Stop

Shop spokeswoman Jenni fer %rogan said.

³When you¶re checking out, there¶s not a 6 foot dis tance ² as recommended by the &'& ² between the ca shier and the customer,´ she said. ³So we¶ve added that as protection as a shield be tween the two.´

)or most people, the coro navirus causes mild or mod erate symptoms, such as fe ver and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. )or some, especially older adults and people with e[isting health problems, it can cause more severe illness, includ ing pneumonia, or death.

Also installing plastic are *iant (agle grocery stores in Ohio, as well as Walmart and the .roger supermarket chain, which said ³snee]e guards´ will be erected at all its more than , 00 stores in the ne[t few weeks as the outbreak intensifies.

The )lorida based 3ub li[ supermarket chain said Wednesday that all 1, 00 locations will have partitions installed at the cash regis ters, customer service desks and pharmacies within two weeks.

³We¶re taking e[tra pre cautions for the well being of our customers and asso ciates,´ said 0aria %rous, a spokeswoman for 3ubli[ Su per 0arkets Inc.

*rocery stores have seen their business soar as author ities urge people go out only for essentials, leading them to stay and cook more at home. The stores have been e[tremely busy and forced to close earlier to give workers more time to clean and re stock as products fly off the shelves.

Some stores have an nounced their employees have &O9I' 1 . 3ubli[ an nounced this week that an associate in &umming, *eor gia, tested positive.

Some grocery stores in )rance also installed similar barriers last week when that country went into lockdown.