As the coronavirus pandemic causes people around the world to build new routines around working from home and social distancing, even simple tasks like grocery shopping have become fraught.
If you’re looking for tips as to how best to handle grocery shopping during the shutdown, here are three tips that can help you buy the food you need in the safest and most responsible way.
1. Order Groceries Online When Possible
One of the easiest ways to shop for groceries while observing social distancing best practices is simply to order your groceries for home delivery.
This is a particularly good idea if you have access to delivery services that help you order from local producers, which ensures that your food money will be going to support small, artisanal farms and producers hit hard by the pandemic. For example, in many states you can stay inside and order meat to your door through innovative meat delivery services designed to connect Americans with meats from local farms.
Not only will this help you avoid going out unnecessarily, it will also help ease the burden on the supermarkets and shops in your area, helping keep some of the most vulnerable workers in the economy safe.
2. Use a Mask and Gloves
It isn’t possible to avoid shopping altogether, of course, so when you do step out it is important to ensure that you are taking the necessary steps to protect yourself and others.
While some states have moved to open up, and others are relaxing the rules around social distancing, this doesn’t mean that the virus has ceased to be a threat. Indeed, with more and more Americans returning to a normal routine, the danger posed by the virus is even greater.
Continuing to use a mask and gloves may be uncomfortable in the summer, but it helps ensure that you don’t become a vector for the disease, and plays an important role in keeping the virus contained until a vaccine is found.
3. Keep Your Distance
Social distancing has, for many Americans, been one of the most difficult aspects of life during the pandemic. Millions have had to spend birthdays, anniversaries, and important holidays alone so as to avoid unintentionally spreading the coronavirus to their friends and family.
It is also one of the things that makes shopping quite difficult. Grocery stores are not really designed to allow shoppers to avoid one another, and while many chains have taken measures to encourage proper distancing, not everyone follows these protocols.
When you go shopping, always be mindful of your personal space, and take care to avoid coming within a meter and a half of others. This might feel strange, but by doing so you’ll be contributing to the safety of everyone around you.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted just about every aspect of modern life, and even a simple thing like grocery shopping is now a complicated dance that involves protective equipment and constant vigilance.
But the more careful everyone is about social distancing, the faster the pandemic will be brought under control, which is why you should do your part to shop responsibly.
