Outside of a hospital, the busiest places during the coronavirus pandemic have been grocery stores. We talked to one grocer in charge of nine stores in Pennsylvania about what its like on the frontlines.

Just yesterday, my office manager said, My God, you look deflated and you look tired. And I said, You know, its not the hours. Its not the stress. Its not the chaos. Its just the worrying, said Joe Fasula, co-owner of Gerritys Supermarket. The constant worrying about my customers and my employees. It really is weighing on me that theyre potentially in harms way.

Fasula, whose family has run the stores based in northeastern Pennsylvania since the 80s, faces a new set of challenges in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to taking care of his employees and overseeing the stores as many people empty grocery shelves in panic buying, Fasula found one of his outlets embroiled in a twisted prank after a woman allegedly coughed on various items at it. The store was forced to throw out more than $35,000 worth of groceries because it was not clear whether the woman had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Fasula said that his employees did everything they could to isolate the area and keep customers away from it.

But he also said that at all of the stores, its a daily struggle to constantly come up with ways that we can protect his clientele as news about the disease evolves.

Weve put out signage. Weve encouraged social distancing. Weve come up with specific hours just for senior citizens. Were doing everything we can. Were getting floor decals made to help customers understand where they should wait, Fasula said.

Were going to put up transparent curtains in front of our cashiers, he added. Were just doing everything we possibly can. Its so hard. Its so mentally taxing to just think of the next issue that could come up or the next way we need to try protect our people.