WALPOLE, Mass. — After Governor Charlie Baker announced a stay-at-home advisory, people across the state rushed to the stores once again to gather as many supplies as possible.
The advisory, however, doesn’t mean stores will be closed down nor that people won’t be allowed out of their homes. However, the panic alone pushed people to restock on quarantine essentials on Monday.
Kaitlin Whitecross, a nurse, was at her local Stop and Shop in Norwood picking up some groceries, but a lot of items had already flown from the shelves.
“They don’t have a lot of chicken or pork or anything,” said Whitecross. “I’m working a lot.”
Whitecross, one of many medical workers pulling long shifts to help keep people safe and healthy, acknowledges she’s not the only one working tirelessly these days. She says she’s thankful for the employees at grocery stores across the state making sure shelves get restocked and people have the supplies they need.
“Our associates that work in the facility are doing a tremendous amount of work, both in bound and outbound,” said Jim Labrecque, Vice President of Operations at Stop and Shop.
Employees at local grocery stores spoke to Boston 25 News off camera, hesitant about the possibility of losing their jobs, but say they’re afraid of dealing with the public and putting themselves at risk, but that they have no choice because they too need to feed their families.
“They’re worried they’re going to bring something home to their families, we have to do our jobs, and it’s necessary so people can eat,” said one grocery store worker.
“We just keep taking the customers as normal,” said a Stop and Shop employee. “Obviously if someone seems sick, we like take extra precaution, and wipe down all the registers if someone touches it or seems sick.”
A Hannaford employee says the chain plans on protecting their employees the best they can.
“They told us on Wednesday that are going to be installing plexiglass in front of the cashiers, I don’t know how tall it is,” said the employee. “I think almost like a sneeze guard.”
“They’ve been great,” said Michael Morris, of Canton. “We’ve been lucky they could be stressing out with everything.”
One grocery store employee is asking for customers to be kind to their grocery store employees. Another grocery store employee said she sees cleaning crews coming in a couple of times a day and cleaning and that everyone is doing the best they can.
If you have to go to a grocery store, pharmacy or even the liquor store, make sure to do your best to keep yourself and employees safe, which includes using hand sanitizer, cleaning shopping carts as often as possible and being patient with employees who are trying to do their best in a time of crisis.
Stores such as BJ’s Wholesale Club has announced they will be increasing employees wages during the COVID-19 outbreak response as a way to support their workers and thank them for all their hard work.
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