The unfortunate reality of the COVID-19 pandemic is that outbreaks can happen at any time.
So whether you live in a COVID hotspot or an area with no locally-acquired transmissions (and want to keep it that way), being aware of hygiene and social-distancing guidelines at the supermarket will help keep everyone safe while grocery shopping.
Here, we've compiled a comprehensive guide to help you shop safely.
Note: Public health guidelines can change rapidly depending on where you live. Visit your relevant government website for the latest guidance.
1. Shop infrequently
The fewer visits you make to the supermarket the less risk you have of contracting the virus while doing your grocery shopping.
Limit your supermarket visits by planning ahead. Write a shopping list of everything you might need to last a whole week, and preferably write it on paper instead of your phone to avoid having to use the phone instore and potentially contaminating it.
'Contactless' home delivery of groceries is an ideal option, and both Coles and Woolies offer priority assistance for eligible customers, including people with disabilities and the elderly.
Write your shopping list on paper instead of your phone to avoid having to use the phone instore and potentially contaminating it
Designate one person per household to visit the supermarket at a time to reduce the potential for infection. If you're unwell, stay at home and ask a family member, friend or neighbour to shop for you.
Another option for vulnerable customers is to use Woolworths Community Pick Up, Coles Priority Click and Collect, and IGA Priority Shop. You just need to appoint someone to pick up your online order from the store.
Just note that product limits may apply to home delivery and store collection orders.
Write a shopping list of everything you might need to last a whole week.
2. Follow local face mask guidelines
Many health experts currently advise wearing a face mask when in high-risk indoor areas including supermarkets and shops.
But official guidance on whether or not you need to wear a face mask can change rapidly, so it's important to stay across the advice for your area. If you live in an area where community transmission is occurring, you may be strongly encouraged to wear a mask whenever you leave your home. In some regions, this may be mandatory.
Visit face masks and COVID-19 for more advice on how to wear a face mask or even make your own.
3. Wash your hands
Maintaining good hand hygiene is essential in the fight against COVID-19. Before visiting the supermarket, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water or with an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, and while at the supermarket avoid touching your face or eating.
Many supermarkets now offer hand sanitiser to customers as you enter and leave their stores.
You could also disinfect your trolley or basket handle. Many stores are already doing this or providing customers with wipes to use.
When you get home, unpack your shopping, and wash your hands with soap and water again. For more information on the most effective way to wash your hands, visit the Australian Government's Health Direct website.
Imagine slightly more than a trolley length between yourself and the person next to you.
4. Stick to store guidelines on social distancing
Maintaining a social distance of 1.5m between yourself and other shoppers will limit your risk of catching or passing on the virus.
Woolworths provides an example of what 1.5m looks like, suggesting you imagine slightly more than a trolley length between yourself and the person in front or behind you.
Supermarkets all have clear floor markings in store to indicate this distance to customers, particularly at checkout points where customers queue.
It may seem difficult at times to meet the 1.5m space requirement when navigating the aisles, but by being patient and courteous while waiting for other customers to move, it is achievable.
5. Only handle items you're going to buy
Food Standards Australia (FSA) states that product packaging is not known to present any specific risk to consumers. COVID-19 is not a foodborne illness and there's no current evidence that it can be transmitted through food or linked to contamination of food.
However, the COVID-19 virus can survive on some surfaces for between a few hours and up to several days depending on the type of surface and temperature or humidity of the environment. So it makes sense to only touch the products you intend to buy.
Should I wash my groceries when I get home?
You should always wash fruit and vegetables under running water before you eat them. This was the advice before the pandemic, and still applies now. And while COVID-19 isn't likely to be transmitted to humans from meat in Australia, you should still practice good food hygiene to avoid the risk of food poisoning.
Any anecdotal suggestion that you should wash your food with cleaning products such as soap, detergent or disinfectant to avoid catching COVID-19 isn't recommended. These are cleaning products that aren't meant for human consumption, and are unsafe to use with food.
Washing your food with cleaning products such as soap, detergent or disinfectant isn't recommended
As it's not known how long the virus survives on most surfaces (studies suggest it may be between a few hours and up to several days), there's no definitive answer as to whether you should wash the packaging your groceries come in.
If you're concerned, you can wipe down non-porous items with common household disinfectants that are designed to kill viruses. You should also clean your benchtop and any other surface you've touched while unpacking your groceries, and continue practising good hand hygiene.
6. Buy only what you need
When the pandemic first hit Australia, 'panic buying' by customers resulted in a nationwide shortage of essential items, such as toilet paper, tissues, hand sanitiser, flour and rice, long-life milks and jar, tin and frozen foods.
In response, supermarkets put limits on the number of certain products customers can buy per transaction.
While those limits on products have been lifted in some areas, it's important to check and adhere to any product limits for supermarkets near you as the rules can change rapidly.
If we all bought just what we needed at the supermarket, it's unlikely there'd be product shortages at all. So let's do that!
7. Consider paying by card
Cashless payment is one of the ways you can reduce direct contact with supermarket staff at the register.
Microbiology professor Peter White from the University of NSW told The Australian newspaper that there's a risk posed by cash transactions and warned that a virus could remain infectious on objects including Australian polymer banknotes for "anywhere between six and 24 hours depending on the temperature and humidity". However, the World Health Organization has not issued any warnings or statements about banknotes transmitting COVID-19.
Woolworths and Coles have also increased the limit on 'tap and go' card transactions that don't require a PIN from $100 to $200 to prevent the spread of the virus while touching PIN pads.
If you do pay in cash at the supermarket, practice good hygiene by not touching your face, and sanitise or wash your hands with soap as soon as possible.
Cashless payment reduces direct contact with supermarket staff.
8. Follow store advice on packing and reusable bags
You can continue to bring your reusable bags with you to the supermarket, but follow the advice instore on whether to pack your bags yourself of let the checkout and store staff do it for you, as this may vary.
Wash your reusable bags according to their individual care instructions. As a general guide, most fabric bags can go in the washing machine, reusable plastic bags can be wiped over with disinfectant, and jute bags are best washed by hand in warm soapy water and left to dry in the sun.
If you don't want to bring your own bags, you can continue to buy thick reusable plastic bags at the supermarket checkout.
9. Be patient and remain courteous
Supermarket staff are on the front line working incredibly hard to serve communities in these extremely challenging times.
They're essential workers whose job – ensuring customers can access the food and products we want and need – puts them at high risk of contracting COVID-19.
Supermarket staff are on the front line working incredibly hard to serve communities in these extremely challenging times
They deserve our respect and we can give them this by being courteous and expressing gratitude when we're at the supermarket.
You can also help them by adhering to the new rules in store and extending this respect to other customers with patience and kindness.
What are supermarkets doing to keep people safe?
Australian supermarkets are working hard to ensure their staff and customers are protected. Australia's big four supermarket chains, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA, are working together on developing industry guidelines to improve on ways supermarkets are implementing new social distancing rules and improving hygiene standards.
These include more rigorous and regular cleaning practices, limiting the number of customers in the store during busy periods and ensuring customers can remain 1.5m apart at all times.
Supermarkets are regularly disinfecting trolley and basket handles, conveyor belts, checkouts and touch points such as EFTPOS machines and self-service registers. Floor markings and signs are now in checkout points to clearly indicate the 1.5m social distance required between customers.
Many supermarkets have installed plexiglass shields at checkout points, while others have reduced the number of checkout points open to increase the distance between each customer.
What if a supermarket employee is diagnosed with COVID-19?
According to the NSW Health Authority, employees diagnosed with COVID-19 are to be isolated and must follow the directions of public health authorities and remain in isolation until they've fully recovered.
The supermarket would work with local public health authorities to rapidly trace close contacts of the infected employee to minimise further spread of the virus. Fellow employees who had been within 1.5m of the infected employee for two hours or more in the previous 24 hours since the diagnosed staff member experienced symptoms would also be isolated.
In March, two staff at a Melbourne Coles supermarket were diagnosed with COVID-19 and immediately put into isolation. In a statement to 9News, a spokesperson from Coles said, "Coles has conducted a full clean of the stores over and above the recommendations from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (Department of Health), which has confirmed that the stores can continue to trade and the risk of transmission for customers and team members is very low," it read.
"In addition to criteria on hygiene and social distancing practices, the guidelines specify that 'there is no requirement to close a store if a staff member tests positive for COVID-19'."
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
