많은 Customer를 상대하는 Super Market 또는 small grocery store operator분들이 Coronavirus pandemic에 희생될 확율이 가장 높다는 CNN의 보도는, 나자신뿐만이 아니라 모두의 안전을 위해서 서로가 배려하고, 인내하고, 줄서기 할때 안내하는 Worker들의 지시를 잘 따르도록 해야 한다는 점을 다시한번 Remind하게 해주는 뉴스다.
어떤 Customer분들은, Cashier앞에서 Coughing을 했을때, 많은 어려움과, Coronavirus
pandemic양성 확진자가 될수 있는 확율이 높다는 전문가들의 의견이 있고, 또 일선에서 방역퇴치와 진료에 고생하시는 분들도
많이 양성확진 환자로 발견되여, 조금만 방심해도, 일방적으로 피해를 볼수있는것을 이해하게7된다.
Walmart에서
Cashier로 근무했었던, Paula Spellman여사는 건강했었는데, 할수있는 모든 장비와 마스크등등으로 중무장하고
Customer Service를 했었다고 하는데, 하루는 Cashier앞에서 Checking out 하던 손님 한분이 심한 기침을
해댔었는데..... 확실치는 않지만, 그손님으로부터 Virus가 옮겨졌는지 의문이 많이 갔던 부분이라고 하는데 아깝께도
Paula 씨는 며칠후 세상을 떠나고 말았다고 한다. 그녀의 남편도 전염되여 거의 며칠 사이를 두고 세상을 떠나는 날벼락을 맞은
것이다.
여기서 잠깐 이태원과 강남의 Night Club에서 광란의 파티를 한것과 비교해 보면, Night Club은 완전히 소똥속의 구데기들처럼 엉겨 붙어 입맞추고, 거친숨을 내쉬고, 그속에서 Saliva, Droplet이 시속 180킬로 미터로 퍼졌으니, 제2의 Coronavirus Pandemic이 안일어나면 오히려 이상한것 아니었을까?
아직까지 Night Club Reopening에 누가 책임지겠다는 양심의 소리는 한마디 없다. 청와대와 서을시가 너무나 조용하다.
제2의 Virus Pandemic 의⁷ 잘 관리로, 최소한의 피해로 그쳤으면 하는 마음이다.
New York (CNN Business)Sandra Kunz wanted to keep working as a Walmart (WMT) cashier even as the coronavirus spread.
Despite
a lung condition, the 72-year-old in Aurora, Colorado, needed to get
her paycheck, according to her sister, Paula Spellman. Her husband, Gus,
was injured and out of work, and the couple had bills due.
Kunz died
on April 20 from complications related to the coronavirus, her sister
said. Gus, who was also sick from the virus, died two days before his
wife.
While it is unclear how the
couple contracted the virus, Spellman said her sister had expressed
concerns about customers at Walmart coughing on her at the cash
register.
"I
wish she didn't work there. I wish she had taken leave," Spellman said.
"I get angry because she should have been more protected."
Walmart
says it has instituted several safety measures in its stores, including
providing masks and erecting sneeze guards, or plexiglass barriers, to
protect its workers from the coronavirus.
The
cash register has emerged as the most dangerous place in the store,
according to public health and worker safety experts. Every item
cashiers touch, scan and bag has been handled by customers and other
workers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is possible that a person can get coronavirus by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it.
The job also entails being at arm's
length from customers all day rather than the CDC-recommended six feet,
making socially distancing nearly impossible, these experts said. The
risks for shoppers are heightened as they move toward the register, too.
If a cashier is infected, the employee could spread it to customers.
"The
cashier spot is still the most dangerous since every customer passes
this area and stands there for some time while groceries are moving down
the counter," said Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist at the University
of California, Riverside.
'Most exposure'
The virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity, even if they do not display symptoms, according to the CDC.
"Workers
at the greatest risk are the workers with the most direct contact with
other people," said Brian Brown-Cashdollar, program director at the
Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health, a worker
safety advocacy group. Cashiers "have the most exposure."
Spellman
says that her sister expressed concerns to her about working behind the
register without a mask. Walmart says it made masks available for
workers in late March, including in Kunz's store, and began requiring
workers to wear them on April 20.
A
spokesperson for Walmart said, "Our hearts go out to Sandy Kunz and her
loved ones. Her loss shows the devastating impact of the COVID-19
virus."
Walmart added that, in addition to
offering masks to employees, the store had taken other measures earlier
in March, such as adding social distancing markers and cleaning checkout
lanes and cash registers more frequently. The store installed sneeze
guards and began limiting the number of customers inside the store
earlier in April.
Retailers have been stepping up their safety measures as the CDC's guidance on the virus evolves. In addition to Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Kroger (KR),
Whole Foods and others have installed sneeze guards at checkout lanes
and added social distancing markers in lines. Retailers are limiting the
number of customers inside the store at a time and are sanitizing
checkout stations frequently. Companies are also expanding the use of
contact-free payment options so customers don't have to touch screens or
enter their pins.
Some public
health experts and labor advocates believe the measures are not
stringent enough to protect cashiers, other employees and customers. For
instance, major retailers like Kroger, Target and Whole Foods are not
mandating that customers wear masks, except in states and cities where
they are required. And workers complain that the requirements are often not enforced.
Sneeze guards and self-checkout
While
the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration
says stores should consider opening up every other cash register to keep
workers safe, this is not a requirement and many stores are not taking
this measure, said John Grant, president of Local 770 of the United Food
and Commercial Workers in California, which represents 20,000 grocery
workers. Around 27% of the workers at the local who have gotten sick
from the virus have been cashiers, Grant said.
Eric
Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist at the Harvard Chan
School of Public Health, said cashiers "need N95 masks as much as health
care workers." He believes that all stores also need to give their
cashiers face shields because many coronavirus carriers are
asymptomatic. In China, stores are sanitizing cash, and the United
States "should as well at some point."
Cashiers
also say limits on the number of customers inside stores are unevenly
enforced and it's hard to keep customers separated in lines. At Kunz's
Walmart in Aurora, for example, the local public health department
briefly ordered the store to shut down in part because of complaints of
"lack of social distancing" and "too many people in the store at one
time." The department has since allowed the store to reopen and said it
has "good safety and health measures in place."
The
plexiglass barriers companies have put up are of limited help, some
cashiers say, because customers lean over or around the barriers to talk
to them.
"It doesn't cover us
properly," said one Target cashier in Louisiana affiliated with the
workers' advocacy group Target Workers Unite who requested anonymity out
of concern of retaliation. "There's a considerable gap in the
plexiglass on each register."
A
representative for Target declined to comment on the plexiglass but said
"we have introduced dozens of new safety measures at our stores,"
including reminding customers through loud speakers to observe social
distancing rules.
"In any
situation, if a team member feels uneasy about performing a specific
task, we'd encourage them to have a conversation with their leader to
determine if there are alternative tasks they could perform," the
retailer said.
Companies have
expanded the use of self-checkout in recent years, but this also brings
risks. "Self-checkout may make physical distancing a challenge because
of the frequent need for customer assistance," California's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration says in guidelines.
Workers
have to clean down stations after each customer, retail employees say,
and handling alcohol purchases is especially challenging. That's because
a worker has to come over to ask the customer for ID, the customer has
to remove a mask, and then the worker has to check to make sure they
match.
There are other concerns:
"At self-checkout, guests tend to crowd you when they need help, even
with social distancing reminders," said a Target worker in North
Carolina who is behind the cash register part time and also helps with
self-checkout. This employee spoke under the condition of anonymity.
Target declined to comment.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/30/business/grocery-stores-coronavirus-cashiers/index.html
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