Victoria – Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer (PHO), issued an order under the Public Health Act prohibiting the gathering of people in excess of 50 people at a place of which a person is the owner, occupier or operator, or for which they are otherwise responsible. Employers in the retail food and grocery store sector are asking for clarity about what this means for them.
In large grocery stores where it is feasible to have more than 50 people present at one time, it is permissible to do so provided that appropriate physical distancing can be maintained. Also:
- enhancing the premise’s sanitation plan and schedule, and ensuring staff are practising proper hygiene. This includes frequent hand washing, only coughing or sneezing into an elbow, and avoiding touching one’s face;
- placing hand sanitizer with a minimum of 60% ethyl alcohol in dispensers near doors, pay stations and other high-touch locations for customer and staff use;
- ensuring washrooms are always well stocked with liquid soap and paper towels, and that warm running water is available;
- providing clean carry-out bags for purchased food and grocery products; customers should not use their own containers, reusable bags or boxes;
- posting signs at each check-out indicating that no customer packaging is to be used or placed on check-out counters;
- ensuring cones or tape markers are in place every two metres to provide customers with visible queues that support physical distancing;
- using physical queue-line controls, such as crowd control cordons at entrances and in check-out lines outside the stores;
- do not sell bulk items, except via gravity feed bins or where staff dispense the bulk items; and
- anyone with COVID-19-like symptoms, such as sore throat, fever, sneezing or coughing, must self-isolate at home for 14 days.
