LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Health officials in Jefferson County, Indiana, are asking essential retail businesses to limit the number of customers allowed into stores at one time as part of a long list of guidelines implemented to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The new guidelines, which are "effective midnight, April 5," were posted by John Hossler, a health officer with the Jefferson County Health Department, to the department's Facebook page. According to the post, the health department consulted city officials in Madison, Indiana, city and county law enforcement, managers of local Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Kroger stores among others.
"... 'Essential businesses,' while serving essential functions, are also high-traffic areas, which, during this time of mandated isolation, have also become places where people are congregating for non-essential reasons," Hossler wrote. "This type of close social contact is precisely what we have been ordered by the state and federal government to prevent, if we are to decrease the spread of COVID-19."
High-volume essential retail businesses should not allow more than five customers for every 1,000 square feet at a given time, the health department said. Businesses are also being asked to implement a "one-cart-one-person" policy, according to the post, with the exception of "a single parent who needs to shop for essential items."
"Businesses will be responsible to try to monitor this the best they can," the post says. "Essential businesses that are not deemed high-volume also need to look at decreasing their in-store traffic."
The health department also asked business to "sell essential items only."
"This is a very difficult subject as everyone has their own definition of essential items," the post says. "We ask businesses to use their best judgement on this and remember the main goal is to do what is necessary to limit foot traffic and discourage 'browsing.'"
Among the other new guidelines the department is asking businesses to put in place, according to the post:
- Adjust store layout to enable shoppers to stay 6 feet apart at all times.
- Utilize employees to “direct traffic” to avoid shoppers from congregating in aisles.
- Consider implementing one-way aisles.
- Place signage to encourage online pick up shopping.
- Consider offering separate shopping times to at-risk or elderly customers.
- Sanitize carts and baskets as they are returned to the store. Do not allow customers to bring carts in from parking lot.
- Provide employees with gloves that must be routinely replaced with proper hand washing in between glove changes. Provide mask for employees working near the public.
- Screen employees for illness and mandate employees stay home if they are ill.
- Provide hand sanitizer stations for customers upon entry and exit of the store. This could be motion detected hand sanitizer dispensers or hand sanitizer wipes.
Wal-Mart, Kroger and Lowe's have already taken some of the precautions listed in cooperation with guidance from the companies' leaders.
The health department is also asking shoppers to limit the amount of time they spend in stores and to "touch only what you are going to buy," according to the post. Shoppers should limit trips to essential retailers and buy "what you need for two weeks, but please do not hoard," the department said.
Among the other guidelines the health department is asking shoppers to follow, according to the post:
- Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before you leave your home and soon as you return home.
- Consider using hand sanitizer after touching high-touch areas in the store, such as freezer handles.
- Use store curbside pickup, online ordering, and/or telephone ordering when available.
- Partner with friends and family. If you only need a few items, have a friend or family pick up for you and leave it at your doorstep.
- Clean your purchases. Consider anything you bring home as contaminated. It is not fully understood how long the virus can live on certain surfaces. Leave non-perishable items in your garage or porch for three days.
- Wash your hands thoroughly after putting groceries away.
- Sanitize countertops after putting groceries away.
- CDC recommendations: Wear a mask, scarf or bandanna when out in public, or at work, if coworkers work nearby.
- Limit your contacts to those people you live with, or work with. Avoid visiting family and friends outside your household during the remainder of the "stay-at-home" mandate.
"These measures will not be without inconvenience or financial impact, but they are necessary, nonetheless, for the good of all," Hossler wrote.
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