Grocery Shopping Concerns-CoVid 19

How to safely shop for groceries if you’re concerned about coronavirus
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/tipsandtricks/how-to-safely-shop-for-groceries-if-youre-concerned-about-coronavirus/ar-BB11jqt3?li=BBnb7Kw&ocid=iehp

The coronavirus pandemic is already wreaking havoc on the restaurant industry. But with more people being advised to eat meals at home, grocery shopping has become increasingly difficult as supermarkets adjust their schedules to keep up with the overwhelming demand.

Unless you are sick, elderly or an individual with a compromised immune system, grocery shopping can still be done safely. However, there are several guidelines shoppers should follow before, during and after their next trip to the store. ---CONTINUED---

Grocery stores are the coronavirus tipping point
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/grocery-stores-are-the-coronavirus-tipping-point/ar-BB11DZiC?appwebview=true

For a couple of weeks now, grocery stores have been one of the only respites from cabin fever. Despite all the lockdowns and social-distancing measures across America, people still need food. In the most restrictive states, the grocery store has become about the last place you can go where life is lived more or less as it previously was.

Except now, not even grocery stores can keep up the facade of normalcy. As many health experts have feared, last week, reports began to trickle in of grocery-store workers coming down with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. ---CONTINUED---

It stands to reason that they (and truckers) would eventually start getting cases, since they come into contact with their families. Also, there are a lot of cidiots who think the grocery store is a substitute for taking their kids to the playground, and I don't think there are many 5 year olds that will stick to the 6 ft social distance rule.

We're still seeing UPS, postal workers, and FedEx on our rural dirt road. More people are getting stuff delivered. We've had some stuff delivered, but they leave it on the porch.

Other than that, I don't much, I've not been off the property since Monday, March 16.

Giant to limit number of customers in stores, starting Monday
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/04/pa-grocery-chain-to-limit-number-of-customers-in-stores-starting-monday.html

The Giant Company announced it will be cutting down on the number of people who can shop in stores at one time, amid concerns over social distancing and stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

The number of permitted customers will vary based on location and the size of the store, management said on Saturday. However, the company is requesting only one person shop per family when at all possible. ---CONTINUED---

While we have the senior hour at our local WM, it is packed even at that early hour

Husband drove into town the other day just to look around - WM had a full parking lot, more so than usual.

I guess we're not social distancing yet, even though we have a SIP order out, now.

I'm posting this in the grocery store thread, because we don't know how many packs of meat have made it to our grocery shelves, from this situation. I posted about sick meat packers over in the PA thread. Well, there are MORE states with sick meat packers!

COLORADO:

Colorado meat packing plant with thousands of employees closed after coronavirus outbreak
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/us/colorado-meat-packing-plant-coronavirus/index.html

A meat packing plant in Colorado where dozens of employees have contracted the novel coronavirus is closed for a deep cleaning and all workers will be tested before they can return to their jobs, officials said Friday.

====MORE====

Longtime JBS meat plant worker dies of coronavirus; first death related to Greeley facility
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/investigations/longtime-jbs-meat-plant-worker-dies-of-coronavirus-first-death-related-to-greeley-facility

GREELEY, Colo. -- For three decades, Saul Sanchez dedicated himself to making a difference inside the massive JBS meat packing plant in Greeley. Late Tuesday night, his dedication to the company and his life ended after a two-week battle with the novel coronavirus.  ---CONTINUED---

Coronavirus In Colorado: 2nd Worker At JBS Meat Packing Plant In Greeley Dies From COVID-19
Coronavirus In Colorado: 2nd Worker At JBS Meat Packing Plant In Greeley Dies From COVID-19 ---CONTINUED---

“I write to you with a heavy heart as the President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents roughly 3,000 hardworking and devoted employees at the JBS meat packing plant in Greeley, Colorado. It is with deep sadness that I inform you that a second member of our Union family at the meat packing plant has passed away as a result of the COVID-19 virus. ---CONTINUED---

POULTRY WORKER in GEORGIA

Poultry Worker’s Death Highlights Spread of Coronavirus in Meat Plants
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/coronavirus-chicken-meat-processing-plants-immigrants.html

Some employees are coming in sick, and one woman died after being ordered back to work. “Our work conditions are out of control,” a longtime Tyson employee said. ---CONTINUED---

Hundreds of U.S. Meat Workers Have Now Tested Positive for Virus
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/companies/hundreds-of-us-meat-workers-have-now-tested-positive-for-virus/ar-BB12rZXp

There’s been a spike in coronavirus cases at meat plants in the U.S., with hundreds of reported infections in just the last week. That’s adding to questions over the fragility of the food-supply chain and raising concerns over worker safety.

As many as 50 people at a JBS SA beef facility in Colorado’s Weld County tested positive, adding to more than 160 cases at a Cargill Inc. meat-packaging plant in Pennsylvania, union officials said on Friday. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Friday reported 190 cases at a Smithfield Foods Inc. pork facility, the Associated Press said. The Cargill and Smithfield plants are being shuttered, while JBS said it will continue operations. ---CONTINUED---

All you bacon lovers better stock your freezers NOW!

Smithfield Shutting US Pork Plant Indefinitely, Warns of Meat Shortages during Pandemic
https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/smithfield-shutting-us-pork-plant-indefinitely-warns-meat

CHICAGO, ILL. - Smithfield Foods, the world's biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving "perilously close to the edge" in supplies for grocers.

Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping availability of meat at retail stores and leaving farmers without outlets for their livestock. ---CONTINUED---