Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Grocery Stores Install Plastic Shields In Checkout Lines To Protect Cashiers, Customers
The Associated Press: What's In Store: Groceries Installing Barriers Amid Outbreak
Grocery stores across the U.S. are installing protective plastic shields at checkouts to help keep cashiers and shoppers from infecting one another with the coronavirus. At a Stop & Shop supermarket Thursday in Quincy, just south of Boston, shoppers paid for and bagged their groceries, separated from employees by newly installed see-through barriers.“I think it’s a great protection for customers ... and the cashiers,” said Jasmine Vazquez, a home health aide shopping for a client. “We’re supposed to be 6 feet away, but we’re closer to them. So that protection helps, and I feel safer.” (Ngowi, 3/27)
The New York Times: Who Knew Grocery Shopping Could Be So Stressful?
As much of the world practices social distancing to stop the spread of coronavirus, trips to the grocery store are one of the few reasons many of us still are allowed to leave the house. But the logistics of shopping for groceries can be daunting. What happens if some key items on my shopping list are sold out? How do I keep my distance in a crowded produce aisle? And just how many people have touched that jar of peanut butter or can of beans we brought home? (Parker-Pope, 3/26)
CNN: A Grocery Store Threw Out $35,000 In Food That A Woman Intentionally Coughed On, Sparking Coronavirus Fears, Police Said
A woman purposely coughed on $35,000 worth of food at a Pennsylvania grocery store, police said. She likely faces criminal charges for coughing, one of the primary ways the novel coronavirus spreads. The unnamed woman entered small grocery chain Gerrity's Supermarket in Hanover Township and started coughing on produce, bakery items, meat and other merchandise, chain co-owner Joe Fasula wrote on Facebook. (Andrew and Sturla, 3/26)
NBC News: Amazon's Largest Warehouse Hub Has A Coronavirus Case. Workers Say Changes Need To Be Made.
As they were walking into work Tuesday, employees at Amazon's fulfillment center in Moreno Valley, California, learned that someone in their facility had just tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. "I first heard about it on Facebook," an employee at the fulfillment center, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said via text message Wednesday. "Then I confirmed it when I went up to the Amazon parking lot across the street when lots of people were leaving for home frightened because they didn't get notified through email." (Glaser and Ingram, 3/26)
