Grocery Store Capacity Limits

[Alpha8472]

I was at a Lucky run by Save Mart and there were 6 foot markings on the floor to separate people at the checkout. One cashier used long barbecue tongs to give customers their receipts. She told people to stay 6 feet away and to not put anything on the belt until the first customer was finished.

[storewanderer]

I went to Save Mart tonight and they just have blue duct tape on the floor to designate where you should wait, which is at the edge of the checkstand, so I waited there, and the cashier told me to "come on" as the customer ahead of me was putting her card in the card reader...

Funny how different stores do things so differently.

Also for some inexplicable reason the self checkout in this Save Mart was closed (early evening). They only had one cashier and hardly any customers in the store.

[cjd]

I hope something happens with this before too long. I don't see how people can take another year to 18 months of these stay at home orders with nothing to do other than going shopping which at this point is so minimized and dangerous it is not even something to look forward to. It's not good for the mental health to be cooped up for that long, especially when there's no real hope in sight of a means to the end, other than vague dates that are obviously based on nothing, really.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the stay at home orders would last a year to 18 months. We are already starting to see a flattening in the amount of new cases for the communities that started following the stay at home and social distancing protocols first. While it's to early come up with a date for canceling these restrictions it as at least a hopeful sign.

IMO testing needs to be ramped up. If we were able to test every American we would be able to isolate those that need to be isolated until they are no longer contagious and let everyone else get back to their lives. But the only way I can see this happening is for the President to use The Wartime Powers Act and get these tests being produced on a massive scale.

I fully agree that testing (especially antibody testing) definitely needs to be ramped up - we're talking in the millions. Fortunately it seems people can develop immunity to this virus, and if more people have had it than we know and either recovered or haven't had any real symptoms, then we are a lot closer to getting to normal, or some semblance of it. It also gives us options as far as vaccines or other protective measures. If there is no immunity to it, I guess we're basically screwed and will have to hide out forever.

Some have been saying the 12-18 months lockdown figures as that's how early a vaccine could be discovered, developed and tested at the very earliest. The idea being that the virus will still be out there, so opening up and relaxing things will cause a surge in cases and we'd be back where we were weeks ago unless we have a vaccine to prevent it.

I don't really see how things will change in a month or a couple months than how they were in March and April, unless we really start making some progress on testing and immunity.

[storewanderer]

I don't really see how things will change in a month or a couple months than how they were in March and April, unless we really start making some progress on testing and immunity.

At this point the game is being called by scientists. These are very intelligent people, but they are known to be rather narrow minded. I do not think they are considering the economic impacts of what is happening here. Their job is to stop the spread of the disease by any reasonable means, be it a stay at home order, medicine, vaccine, etc. They are doing their job. And they are still okay. They still have their jobs, their lives. They are definitely in a spotlight now they were not in previously and that is a shake up for sure, but at least they still have financial support. Many other people's lives have been completely shaken up in this mess and a lot of problems have been caused. Be it a job loss, divorce or marriage challenges due to the change in "lifestyle," or going through the sickness personally or a family member, this has hit a lot of people very hard.

[CalItalian]

I hope something happens with this before too long. I don't see how people can take another year to 18 months of these stay at home orders with nothing to do other than going shopping which at this point is so minimized and dangerous it is not even something to look forward to. It's not good for the mental health to be cooped up for that long, especially when there's no real hope in sight of a means to the end, other than vague dates that are obviously based on nothing, really.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the stay at home orders would last a year to 18 months. We are already starting to see a flattening in the amount of new cases for the communities that started following the stay at home and social distancing protocols first. While it's to early come up with a date for canceling these restrictions it as at least a hopeful sign.

IMO testing needs to be ramped up. If we were able to test every American we would be able to isolate those that need to be isolated until they are no longer contagious and let everyone else get back to their lives. But the only way I can see this happening is for the President to use The Wartime Powers Act and get these tests being produced on a massive scale.

I fully agree that testing (especially antibody testing) definitely needs to be ramped up - we're talking in the millions. Fortunately it seems people can develop immunity to this virus, and if more people have had it than we know and either recovered or haven't had any real symptoms, then we are a lot closer to getting to normal, or some semblance of it. It also gives us options as far as vaccines or other protective measures. If there is no immunity to it, I guess we're basically screwed and will have to hide out forever.

Some have been saying the 12-18 months lockdown figures as that's how early a vaccine could be discovered, developed and tested at the very earliest. The idea being that the virus will still be out there, so opening up and relaxing things will cause a surge in cases and we'd be back where we were weeks ago unless we have a vaccine to prevent it.

I don't really see how things will change in a month or a couple months than how they were in March and April, unless we really start making some progress on testing and immunity.

Gov. of Texas has announced an executive order will be signed next week with their reopening plan next week. They're going to lead the nation's reopening. It is going to happen in May. President Trump next week will announce a new council of business and medical leaders dedicated to reopening business, America. Again, this is going to happen next month.

[cjd]

Yes the health officials are employed as usual, and their job isn't to worry about the economy but to advise on the health aspects of the virus, so they are going to push for safety and staying home until there's a cure.

I did not know that about Texas. I know there is a plan to implement health officials into whatever committee is in charge of reopening the economy. But I still think May is too early and we will need to ramp up testing and have protocols in place so that infected people are not out infecting others. Singapore reopened and has had a huge spike in cases. Are our supplies and employees really in place to prevent an overwhelm of hospitals and other facilities? They had better be if we plan on raising any restrictions.

A few weeks ago AMC theaters said they were not expecting to be able to reopen until June. Now this week they are saying August and that they will likely have to file bankruptcy due to lost patronage.

Gov Desantis here in FL has really been pushing for a plan to get the schools reopened (meaning not just online but actually back on campus) this current school year. He says he's working on a plan with Trump and would like to have at least the final two weeks of the year back in classes. The school year ends mid to late May here. I agree it would be great but it's far too early, unless something happens to really increase the safety. IMO I was surprised some states have not even implemented online classes.

[storewanderer]

This week I noticed most stores that had multiple entrances have shifted their set-up so you can only enter and exit through the same door. This appears to be an effort to control capacity. But it doesn't work too well. Now you have people trying to enter and exit through the same (in some cases single sliding door) and this not only creates a traffic jam but also creates an issue with social distancing as you are now having to get close to people who are going the opposite way. This appears to completely go against the whole social distancing order, one way aisles some places are implementing, etc.

The one exception to this was Sprouts. Sprouts has two doors one one each side. One side is the entrance, one side is the exit. And this is probably how it should be done at all stores. At least that way there are no head on collisions.

The worst I saw was a large Raleys with exit in the middle, and entrances on both sides. They shifted so everyone had to enter/exit on the produce side through a single sliding door. The exit that is right at checkout was closed as was the deli side entry. Nobody was at the open door monitoring traffic (it isn't a very busy store and I doubt it ever hits capacity limits) so I don't know what the point of this is.

Unless it is all a theft prevention due to too many carts being run out of the store un paid for...

[klkla]

This week I noticed most stores that had multiple entrances have shifted their set-up so you can only enter and exit through the same door. This appears to be an effort to control capacity. But it doesn't work too well. Now you have people trying to enter and exit through the same (in some cases single sliding door) and this not only creates a traffic jam but also creates an issue with social distancing as you are now having to get close to people who are going the opposite way. This appears to completely go against the whole social distancing order, one way aisles some places are implementing, etc

The store I have been shopping at for the last two weeks does it the same way but more organized. They use the right-side entrance and line customers outside the front of the store six feet apart. If two people leave the employee then let’s two people in and social distancing is maintained.

Nobody likes waiting in line to get into a supermarket but it works if the employee monitoring the situation doesn’t get distracted.

[storewanderer]

The store I have been shopping at for the last two weeks does it the same way but more organized. They use the right-side entrance and line customers outside the front of the store six feet apart. If two people leave the employee then let’s two people in and social distancing is maintained.

Nobody likes waiting in line to get into a supermarket but it works if the employee monitoring the situation doesn’t get distracted.

I think that is what these stores set up with a single entry is for, to be prepared to line people up. When you describe is exactly what I experienced waiting to go into WinCo. So far the only place I've experienced or observed a line up is WinCo. These other stores are not busy enough for it, or I am going at slower times when it is not necessary. Some of the stores were pretty busy yesterday afternoon though, as it looks like some people decided to do Easter meals. Also noticed Walgreens and CVS Stores looked very busy yesterday, but did not go into any of them.

[kr.abs.swy]

The Safeway here has two sets of doors. People line up (if necessary -- store capacity posted at 346) at one, are handed a sanitized cart or basket, and then exit through the other one. There are "do not enter" signs posted at the exit doors.

Aisles are marked as one-way.

There was a reasonable amount of toilet paper in stock today. Certainly not normally stocked, but improving.

This week I noticed most stores that had multiple entrances have shifted their set-up so you can only enter and exit through the same door. This appears to be an effort to control capacity. But it doesn't work too well. Now you have people trying to enter and exit through the same (in some cases single sliding door) and this not only creates a traffic jam but also creates an issue with social distancing as you are now having to get close to people who are going the opposite way. This appears to completely go against the whole social distancing order, one way aisles some places are implementing, etc.

The one exception to this was Sprouts. Sprouts has two doors one one each side. One side is the entrance, one side is the exit. And this is probably how it should be done at all stores. At least that way there are no head on collisions.

The worst I saw was a large Raleys with exit in the middle, and entrances on both sides. They shifted so everyone had to enter/exit on the produce side through a single sliding door. The exit that is right at checkout was closed as was the deli side entry. Nobody was at the open door monitoring traffic (it isn't a very busy store and I doubt it ever hits capacity limits) so I don't know what the point of this is.

Unless it is all a theft prevention due to too many carts being run out of the store un paid for...