Grocery workers 'sanitizing every time there's not a customer' and taking pandemic precautions in stride

Joe Carson is still his usual, chirpy self whilebagging groceries, even if it seems moreimpersonal when it happens behind a glass shield.

From his demeanour at the Family Foods in St. James, you wouldn't guessthe risk he takes every dayby being here.

When he mustpass between customers, Carsondiscreetly tilts his headand covers his mouth with hisjacket.

He doesn't make a scene of the ways the coronaviruslooms over him.

"I come with a little bit of worry.I have a sick parent at home," says the 25-year-old, a supervisor at the grocery store.

He's trying to protect his father at home, whose immune system has been battered by chemotherapy.

"It's a little bit stressful to come into work, but I have a really good staff, a really good crew to work with."

While a global pandemic closes surrounding businesses, grocery stores are still welcoming a population otherwise urged to stay home, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Their employees are vulnerable, at risk of exposureas theydealwithpacked stores and frustrated customers. They're called heroes for showing up.

Around those employees, Winnipeg'sgrocery stores havechanged to adapt to the new protocols.

Store workers are wiping the handles of shopping carts. Many are wearinggloves;some are donningmasks. There are Plexiglas screens at checkouts, wherecashiers and customers werepreviously face-to-face.

When he's wearing gloves, Carson discards a pair every half hour. He will probably wash his hands raw by the time this pandemic is over.

"We'resanitizing every time there's not a customer," Carson said on Friday.

He tries to wipe down the handheld debit machine or any other surfacewhen he isn't punching the cash register.

"It's a learning curve right now, remembering all the tasks we have to do."

The importance of rigorous disinfection duties was hammered homeFriday, when the Real Canadian Superstore on Regent Avenue West was closed for a "deep cleaning" becauseone staff member is suspected of contracting the virus.

A Superstore employee in Oshawa, Ont., died from the coronavirus last month.

Most customers at Carson's storegetthe idea. They seeposters instructing customers to keep their distance.

Those who don't understand the need for physical distancing, or don't want to, are sticking out.

"Make sure you tell him that people are mean and yelling at us," pipes up one of Carson'scolleagues, who didn't want her name used.

Those people arein the minority, Carson insists. It doesn't dismiss the precautions of everybody else.

"The other thing that's really changed is the amount of people that have been gracious," he says. "Thank you for coming to work,"they're saying.

Customers' support validating

"It means the world to us to hear that because we also want to be at home and self-isolating ... but we're here and when you do your part to help us, it really helps us.

"It really validates what we're doing."

At the Foodfare fartherwest alongPortage Avenue, a hand sanitizer station is rolling through the front door.

Owner Munther Zeid was sent a photo of one of these dispensers from his buddyScott Clement, owner of Dakota Family Foods on St. Mary's Road.

"He says, 'What do you think of this?'I say, 'Send it my way.'"

By the next day, Zeid had onein his store.

His approach to combatingCOVID-19 is evolving. Soon, he'll have full face shields available to his employees. They had been wearing face masks, but hefoundstaff kept touching their face to adjusttheir coverings.

There are other recent changes at Zeid's store. It's tripled the usual number of home deliveries.Staff who lost their jobs earlier in the pandemichave been rehired.

Some employees, such as Deanna Montpetit, have increasedhours. Her other job as a substitute educational assistant has dried up without in-person classes.

With the heightened sanitization requirements andorders to stay apart, working at the grocery store is busier and more exhausting.

"It'shard to get the shelves stocked and give someone their space if they're trying to shop," she said, while filling a cart with groceries for a customer staying at home.

"It's like a family here," she continued. "Alot of the customers are very nice about everything. You do get that oddcustomer but they're scared, right? They're showing the part that they're scared."

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