What a different world we live in these days! People in their last third are urged to stay safe and stay home. At the same time, we still need to eat and replenish our household items. So how do we shop safely during COVID-19? This article gives you some tips and pointers.
Center for Disease Control (CDC) Tells How to Shop Safely During COVID-19
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has some very practical information on how to shop safely during this time of social distancing. Wow what a great resource this web page is! Here are some of the things it covers:
- Using delivery services to order online
- How to protect yourself while shopping
- Using hand sanitizer
- How to accept deliveries, including what to do after you get your mail every day.
The CDC not only explains how to shop safely during COVID-19, but also how to approach going to the doctor, getting medicine, banking, and buying gas for your car. It’s a must read for any Last Third Best Thirder!
AARP Healthy Living Advice on How to Stay Safe at the Grocery Store
Of course, this quintessential advice from AARP on how to shop safely includes staying safe while at the store. They start out by advising that you plan your visit and say, no impulse shopping! This is a time for making grocery lists before you go shopping, planning your trip for off-peak times when fewer people are at the store (more on this in the next section below), maintaining that 6-foot social distance between you and your fellow shoppers, and shopping in stores that have the plexiglass or other barriers at the check-out counters.
The article goes on to advise what to do while in the store, and what to do once you get home. Guess what the number one piece of advice is from both the CDC and the AARP? You guessed it! Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Special Store Hours for Seniors: A Great Way to Shop Safely During COVID-19
Perhaps the best way to follow the CDC guidelines, to “social distance” as best as we can, is to go to the grocery store during those times when fewer people are there. To that end, many stores now have special hours when they are open to only seniors and/or those most vulnerable to contracting Coronavirus.
AARP offers another article that lists many stores and their special “senior” hours of operation. Be sure and call your local stores to check for their hours and ask when seniors can shop safely during COVID-19. Here are some more questions you may want to ask your local store:
- Do you have certain supplies on hand for seniors during the special senior hours? For example: toilet paper and other paper goods, hand sanitizer, your favorite cleaner like Formula 409 (that’s mine), bleach, eggs?
- Do you have plexiglass or other protective measures at each cash register?
- Do you wipe down the shopping cart handles after each shopper uses the carts?
- What precautions are taken by staff in restocking the shelves and handling perishable foods?
- Do staff wear masks?
- Are there other times during your regular hours that are off-peak during this COVID-19 time? (In case you’re not an early bird )
Once home, guess what the number one piece of advice AARP and the CDC and almost everyone else has for you that you should do first?
Wash your hands for, well, 30 seconds just for good measure. Here at LTBT, some of us also wipe down our groceries and grocery bags with soap and water before putting them away.
Do you have some tips to share with your fellow Last Third Best Thirders on how to shop safely during COVID-19? We’d sure love to hear them! Leave a comment below to share your thoughts and ideas.
Leave a Reply