Stricter rules at stores aim to reduce risks
A long line stretched out the door of Trader Joe’s in Orange on Thursday afternoon, as customers waited several feet apart from each other for their turn to enter the grocery store and employees monitored the number of people inside.
At the New Haven Stop & Shop, customers were offered wipes as they entered and were tallied by an employee instructed to allow no more than 240 people inside. Bright blue and pink duct tape arrows designated one-way aisles, though several shoppers seemed to disregard them in search of their purchases. Tape also marked the floor of Home Depot, where yellow squares and crosses showed customers where to stand while they waited to check out.
Those measures, some of which had already been in place at many local grocery and retail stores, will become mandatory Friday, when new “Safe Store” rules take effect in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus in some of the few remaining places where groups of people can gather. More than 100 Connecticut residents have died from the coronavirus, including 27 new deaths reported on Thursday.
The latest restrictions require stores to limit capacity to half of their legal occupancy, and must take measures to keep customers apart and enforce social distancing. That includes restricting aisles to one-way where possible, maximizing space in checkout lines and high-traffic areas, and using plastic shields to separate employees from customers at checkout lines, “where practicable.”
Employees are also instructed to wear gloves and facemasks “whenever possible” when interacting with customers or handling products. Sourcing those materials is a challenge, Connecticut Food Association President Wayne Pesce said. They’re in high-demand for health care workers, but grocery stores are working to get more of their own, he said.
The heightened restrictions come as concerns about safety at grocery stores and other retailers continue to rise: a Stew Leonard’s employee in Norwalk tested positive for the virus and others have been quarantined, and Trader Joe’s in Fairfield closed temporarily Thursday for cleaning after a worker there tested positive.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s directives for stores followed Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling issuing similar instructions on Saturday, and supermarket chains following suit. While the statewide Safe Store Rules don’t address the number of customers shopping together, Rilling, Pesce and many stores are encouraging people to come alone, sending only one family member rather than shopping together.
But whether that will truly help slow the spread of the coronavirus depends largely on store’s enforcement and on the behavior of shoppers.
Jessica Rua, who waited outside Trader Joe’s in Orange, said the distancing system seemed to be working because employees were monitoring and enforcing it, ensuring the store wasn’t excessively crowded. On a trip to another store last week, social distancing seemed to be nowhere in sight, she said.
An employee at Home Depot, who asked for her name to be withheld, said customers for the most part have respected the spacing, “or if I step back, they’ll step back,” she said.
She wore gloves that were provided by the store, and a mask of her own, though she said the company was planning to also start providing those. There are still times when the store gets crowded, which makes her anxious, she said.
“I have to talk myself through it,” she said.
While she’s mostly pleased with the restrictions that have been established so far, she worries the store should be open fewer hours, and that people are coming in for nonessential purchases too frequently.
She said some employees who are over 60 years old are taking time off, which means more work and more cleaning for those who are still working. Stew Leonard Jr. said his stores are also dealing with staffing gaps that he’s seeking to fill with new hires because some employees are quarantined after being exposed to the coronavirus.
Pesce, whose association includes more than 200 retailers and distributors, said stores are taking the restrictions “very seriously and complying however and wherever and whenever we can.”
“At some point, it becomes the customer’s understanding and willingness to make that happen,” Pesce said. “Some of this is about a social contract here.”
Stores can put up signs and add restrictions, but customers also need to take seriously the need for space.
“Most folks coming in are bring really, really good about it,” he said.