Grocery stores and retail stores selling food in Columbus must comply with regulations set out by Mayor Robert Smith in a Monday letter to curb the spread of COVID-19.
A total of 25 letters were hand-delivered to stores such as Walmart, Kroger, Bargain Hunt and Walgreens on Monday, said Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton. The stores have until today to comply, he said.
Those who violate the regulations, Smith said, will be fined up to $1,000.
Smith said the city received numerous complaints about some food stores for not having all employees wear masks and other protective gear.
“I expect our store managers and operators in retail to be held accountable and be more responsible,” Smith told The Dispatch this morning.
Stores must set up signage at the entrance to instruct customers to stay six feet away from each other, and they must have marks on the floor measuring six-foot intervals between customers, the letter said. Signs encouraging cashless and online payments, pickups and self checkout lanes must also be in place when possible, the letter said.
The letter requires all employees to wear facial masks, face shields and food-grade gloves when they have to be within six feet of customers, and some employees must be tasked to enforce social distancing among customers.
Stores equipped with public-addressing systems must also make regular public announcements encouraging social distancing, the letter said.
“Many of these employees come in contact with hundreds of different people every day,” Smith said in a Monday press release. “These businesses must follow these regulations until further notice.”
Before the letter was sent out, wearing masks was not required at the Food Giant store in East Columbus, said manager Dan Price.
“It was more optional,” Price said. “Some people feel kind of suffocated by them. Takes a little while to get used to it, including myself, but we are in compliance now.”
The store has enough protection equipment for employees, he said, so it was easy for the store to comply with the regulations.
“What they asked was not a hardship on the store at all,” Price said.
Representatives from Kroger and Sunflower Food Store declined to comment on the mayor’s restrictions when contacted today.
For stores lacking in protection gears, Smith said they can reach out to the city’s community outreach coordinator Glenda Buckhalter Richardson for resources donated by community members.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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