Gov. Whitmer: Temporary Safety Measures for Food-Selling Establishments and Pharmacies

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently implemented Executive Order 2020-60 which offers temporary safety measures for food-selling establishments and pharmacies. The Order also grants temporary relief from requirements applicable to the renewal of licenses for the food-service industry. Read more below on key points from the Order.

It is important to note that if an employee at a food-selling establishment tests positive for COVID-19, the establishment must notify food vendors and other employees of the positive test result as soon as possible. This means no later than 12 hours after receiving the test result and without revealing the personal health-related information of any employee.

Grocery stores and pharmacies must:

• Create at least two hours per week of dedicated shopping time for vulnerable populations. This includes people over 60, pregnant people, and those with chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease.
• Provide access to handwashing facilities, including those available in public restrooms.
• Require checkout employees to wear coverings over their noses and mouths, such as homemade masks, scarves, bandanas, or handkerchiefs.
• Allow employees sufficient break time to wash hands as needed.
• Use best efforts to ensure checkout employees disinfect their hands between orders to prevent cross-contamination.
• Use best efforts to provide employees and customers access to an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Use best efforts to provide disinfecting wipes at cash registers and entrance points for customers to disinfect carts and baskets, as well as at other appropriate locations.
• Ensure that both employees and customers remain at least six feet apart to the maximum extent possible.
• Close self-serve prepared food stations such as salad bars.
• Eliminate free samples and tasting stations.
• Adopt procedures to meet the environmental cleaning guidelines set by the CDC.
• Prohibit employees who are sick from reporting to work and send employees home if they display symptoms of COVID-19.
• Accommodate employees who fall within a vulnerable population by providing lower-exposure work assignments or giving them the option to take an unpaid leave of absence with a return date coinciding with the end of the declared states of emergency and disaster, or May 21, whichever is later.
• Close to the public for sufficient time each night to allow stores to be properly sanitized.
• Encourage cash transactions to be processed at self-checkout kiosks when possible.
• Develop and implement a daily screening program for all staff upon or just prior to reporting to work sites.

Read the full Executive Order.