Coronavirus

COVID-19: What you need to know and what you can do

(Updated 3/11/21)
The Iowa Grocery Industry Association is monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fielding news and information to help you protect your employees, customers, and communities.

Supermarkets are on the frontlines of emergency response both in preparation for an impending disaster and as one of the critical operations necessary for a community to function and recover after a disaster strikes. Federal, state, and local government entities often partner with local retailers, wholesalers and even trade associations, such as IGIA, to coordinate response efforts after a disaster to quickly get basic necessities back into local communities. And while emergency situations can be fluid, grocers make contingency plans ahead of time. This involves coordination with their many vendors throughout the supply chain, especially those that provide items people tend to stock up on, such as milk, eggs, bread and water.

The National Grocers Association and the Food Marketing Institute have provided IGIA with a list of resources to share with you based on information from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other expert sources to keep you prepared for the spread of COVID-19 and the impacts of the pandemic on your business.

As additional information becomes available, IGIA will continue to keep our members updated on best practices and other precautionary actions that you can take to address COVID-19.

For more information, please check out the resources below or contact IGIA President Michelle Hurd, mhurd@iowagrocers.com with your questions.

Quick Links

FMI - The Food Industry Association

CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC Guidance on contact tracing for COVID-19
Change in guidance on close contacts (March 2021)
Related: An article was published in MMWR due to the report of one man in a correctional facility having multiple brief exposures.

CDC Information for Critical Infrastructure

CDC Print Resources

Advocacy Efforts

NGA sent a letter to congressional leadership outlining the top priorities of independent grocers in the upcoming coronavirus relief economic stimulus package: rewarding essential frontline workers, limiting liability exposure of essential businesses and expanding nutritional access for hungry Americans. To learn more about how you can lend your voice to these efforts, please visit grocerstakeaction.org.

Member Best Practices

NGA has compiled the following list of common practices that its members have shared. Remember, communication with your customers and employees is paramount.
Communication

Communicate with your customers the steps your business is taking to protect against COVID-19
Educate employees and customers on CDC-recommended hygiene procedures, including considerations of wearing a face mask.
Stay in communication with local and state health officials and make sure your company is receiving regular updates
Some localities may have mask mandates while out in public and these mandates should always be followed

Cleaning

Institute additional mandatory cleaning or sanitizing schedules and directions around stores
Increase or add hand sanitizing stations around your stores for customers and employees
Assign employees to regularly sanitize shopping carts and other high-traffic or high-touch areas

Employees

Require any employees who have flu-like symptoms to stay home
Update and communicate your sick leave and paid-time-off policies to your employees regarding COVID-19
Identify hard-to-cover positions and implement cross-training to prepare for coverage issues

Customers

Ask customers to implement social distancing (six feet per person) while standing in checkout lines
Consider changing regular store hours to encourage grocery shopping at lower traffic times
Schedule specific hours of operation for vulnerable populations to shop without other customers
Expand remote shopping options if available (click-and-collect, delivery, pick-up, shop-by-phone)
Consider temporarily closing salad bars, buffets, and other ready-to-eat or sample offerings in stores
Institute purchasing limits on high demand items and household staples (toilet paper, hand sanitizer, cleaning products)

This is not an exhaustive list and are only recommendations. Each NGA member must make preparations that best reflect the needs of your individual businesses to protect your employees, your customers and the communities you serve. If you or your company would like to share any helpful practices that your business is undertaking, please contact Robert Yeakel, Director of Government Relations, at ryeakel@nationalgrocers.org.

Public Health Information

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Prevention (CDC)

Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth to help protect yourself and others.
Stay 6 feet apart from others who don’t live with you.
Get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you.
Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
Wash your hands often with soap and water. Use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information (CDC)

COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
You may have side effects after vaccination, but these are normal.
It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19. You are not fully vaccinated until 2 weeks after the 2nd dose of a two-dose vaccine or two weeks after a one-dose vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines are more widely accessible. Everyone 16 years and older is now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination. Find a COVID-19 vaccine.

CDC Calls on Americans to Wear Masks to Prevent COVID-19 Spread
CDC recommends people age 2 and older should wear masks in public settings and when around people who don’t live in their household.

Safety Practices for Critical Infrastructure Workers Who May Have Had COVID-19 Exposure (CDC)
CDC advises that critical infrastructure workers may be permitted to continue work following potential exposure to COVID-19, provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are implemented to protect them and the community.

Pre-Screen: Employers should measure the employee’s temperature and assess symptoms prior to them starting work. Ideally, temperature checks should happen before the individual enters the facility.
Regular Monitoring: As long as the employee doesn’t have a temperature or symptoms, they should self-monitor under the supervision of their employer’s occupational health program.
Wear a Mask: The employee should wear a face mask at all times while in the workplace for 14 days after last exposure. Employers can issue facemasks or can approve employees’ supplied cloth face coverings in the event of shortages.
Social Distance: The employee should maintain 6 feet and practice social distancing as work duties permit in the workplace.
Disinfect and Clean workspaces: Clean and disinfect all areas such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, shared electronic equipment routinely.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

Coronavirus Actions by States: What You Need to Know (National Governors Association)
The National Governors Association has compiled information on what each state is doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As state-by-state responses to the pandemic have differed, this website provides helpful links to statewide emergency declarations, travel restrictions, shelter-at-home requests, school and non-essential business closures, and other non-federal actions.

Getting Your Workplace Ready for COVID-19 (World Health Organization, March 2020)
These low-cost measures will help prevent the spread of infections in your workplace, such as colds, flu and stomach bugs, and protect your customers, contractors and employees. Employers should start doing these things now, even if COVID-19 has not arrived in the communities where they operate. They can already reduce working days lost due to illness and stop or slow the spread of COVID-19 if it arrives at one of your workplaces.

Risk Management and Preparedness

Food Industry Recommended Protocols When Employee/Customer Tests Positive for COVID- 19
Food production facilities, distributors and wholesalers are part of our nation’s “critical infrastructure” and must remain operational to feed the country. Inconsistent approaches to reacting to an employee who tests positive for COVID-19 has the potential to jeopardize our food system. This document recommends a consistent approach in how a company can continue operations in the event an individual has tested positive, given the global COVID-19 pandemic and high transmissibility of this respiratory virus from person to person.

Covid-19 Employee Symptoms/Testing Status-Based Decision Tool For Food Facilities

Coronavirus Preparedness Checklist (FMI)

Identify and Contact local health and agriculture officials
Develop an infectious disease prevention strategy

Food Safety

Food Safety and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
These resources are available to industry members and consumers on COVID-19 and food safety.

FNS Program Guidance on Human Pandemic Response
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the lead federal agency for federal pandemic response. Federal interagency partners support HHS, as requested, to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial partners in their pandemic preparedness and response activities. In some cases, responding to a public health emergency such as a human pandemic will require social distancing by keeping people from gathering in groups, including keeping children home from school and childcare in order to slow the spread of infection.

Food Products: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions (FDA)

Questions About the Safety of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Grocery Stores (Purdue University)

Temporary Allowances for Labels Going to Retail
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is exercising enforcement discretion for a temporary period to provide labeling flexibilities for products intended for food service going to retail. Please find certain situations describing how product can move to retail with certain labeling deviations. Please note, these situations apply to product that has already been produced. Product currently being produced is expected to meet all requirements. FSIS will provide additional information on labeling issues in the future if necessary.

SNAP Updates

*Federal Nutrition Program Updates (March 10, 2021)
USDA FNS is continuing to approve States’ plans to issue SNAP emergency allotments. Click here for a spreadsheet containing issuance schedules and P-EBT Approvals SY 20-21 for the Pandemic-EBT program that have been approved by FNS for School Year 2020-2021.

Online Purchasing for Retailers – Technical Questions and Answers
Retailer Requirements to Provide Online Purchasing to SNAP Households

Employment and Labor

Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the Workplace
The Wage and Hour Division provides information on common issues employers and employees face when responding to COVID-19, and its effects on wages and hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act and job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

What Employers Need to Know About Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccines (Conn Maciel Carey LLP, December 2020)
With the availability of a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine, employers understandably have a number of questions regarding their role in the workplace – whether and when they can require a vaccination, what exceptions are required in a mandatory vaccination program, and whether they should require (as opposed to encourage and facilitate) the COVID-19 vaccine for employees now that vaccines are available

What You Should Know About COVID-19, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (Conn Maciel Carey LLP)
Employers continue to grapple with how to keep employees safe without violating the rights of employees protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). Employers should remain vigilant against enacting policies meant to keep employees safe but have a disparate impact on employees in a protected class.

COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Required Paid Leave Provided by Small and Midsize Businesses FAQs (IRS)

Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace (OSHA)

State OSHA Plans and Workplace Guidance for COVID-19
Many states have implemented local and state-level COVID-19 standards that supersede federal OSHA guidance. Please make sure that your business is complying with all local and state COVID-19 requirements in addition to federal guidance.

Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employer Paid Leave Requirements (US Dept. of Labor)
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) requires certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick or family leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) administers and enforces the new law’s paid leave requirements. These provisions will apply from the effective date through December 31, 2020.

Transportation and Supply Chain

Hours of Service Relief for Commercial Vehicle Drivers: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Emergency Declaration (FMCSA)
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a national emergency declaration to provide hours-of-service regulatory relief to commercial vehicle drivers transporting emergency relief in response to the nationwide Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
NOTE: In their June 15 extension, FMCSA modified the categories eligible for Hours of Service relief. Please view a memorandum from NGA identifying the changes to this regulatory relief.

American Trucking Associations: State by State Declarations and Waivers
The ATA has provided a repository for both federal and state declarations and waivers relating to supply chain and transportation. Their COVID-19 Update Hub will provide industry stakeholders with timely, fact-based information to answer frequently asked questions and address common transportation challenges that arise from the pandemic and national response.

Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce (CISA)
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) executes the Secretary of Homeland Security’s authorities to secure critical infrastructure. Consistent with these authorities, CISA has developed, in collaboration with other federal agencies, State and local governments, and the private sector, an “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce” advisory list. This list is intended to help State, local, tribal and territorial officials as they work to protect their communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security.

Resources for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources
The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering various grants, loans, and aid to small businesses suffering economic difficulties as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Loan Advance
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, small business owners in all U.S. states, Washington D.C., and territories are eligible to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan advance of up to $10,000. The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program provides small businesses with working capital loans of up to $2 million that can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. The loan advance will provide economic relief to businesses that are currently experiencing a temporary loss of revenue. Funds will be made available within three days of a successful application, and this loan advance will not have to be repaid.

Access to Capital
SBA provides a number of loan resources for small businesses to utilize when operating their business.

7(a) program offers loan amounts up to $5,000,000 and is an all-inclusive loan program deployed by lending partners for eligible small businesses within the U.S. States and its territories. The uses of proceeds include working capital; expansion/renovation; new construction; purchase of land or buildings; purchase of equipment, fixtures; leasehold improvements; refinancing debt for compelling reasons; seasonal line of credit; inventory; or starting a business.
Express loan program provides loans up to $350,000 for no more than 7 years with an option to revolve. There is a turnaround time of 36 hours for approval or denial of a completed application. The uses of proceeds are the same as the standard 7(a) loan.
Community Advantage loan pilot program allows mission-based lenders to assist small businesses in underserved markets with a maximum loan size of $250,000. The uses of proceeds are the same as the standard 7(a) loan.
504 loan program is designed to foster economic development and job creation and/or retention. The eligible use of proceeds is limited to the acquisition or eligible refinance of fixed assets.
Microloan program involves making loans through nonprofit lending organizations to underserved markets. Authorized use of loan proceeds includes working capital, supplies, machinery & equipment, and fixtures (does not include real estate). The maximum loan amount is $50,000 with an average loan size of $14,000.