Скачать или смотреть US grocery stores offer seniors-only shopping hours

(20 Mar 2020) LEAD IN:
A growing number of U.S. grocery stores are offering seniors-only shopping hours to reduce coronavirus exposure for elderly customers.
Safeway, Whole Foods, Target and San Jose-based Zanotto's Family Markets are among the stores making the change.

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Zanotto's Family Markets, a local grocery chain in the San Jose area, became one of the first U.S. stores to make the change Monday (16 March), when it started reserving 8-9am for customers 60-years-old and older at three of its stores.
"What we're trying to do is making sure that the seniors have a safe location to shop because it becomes a madhouse after a certain time," says owner Fred Zanotto.
"So, the first hour we've given to them as seniors-only. We try and have the store spotless before they come in. They are the target of this virus. And so, we're trying to work as strong as we can."
Safeway, Whole Foods, Target, Albertson's and Dollar General are among the chains changing their store hours to offer seniors-only shopping hours.
Scientists say while all people can be infected with COVID-19, the elderly are more likely to be hospitalized and die from the virus, which has infected more than 220,000 and killed nearly 10,000 people worldwide.
Grocery stores in Europe have also been offering special shopping hours for the elderly.
Georgia Lee came to shop at Zanotto's early Thursday morning after going to a crowded supermarket a few days earlier.
"People are hoarding everything. So, there's hardly anything on the shelves," she says.
"So, I thought I'd have a better choice here rather than trying to find the regular markets. And I was. I wanted to get some good meat and vegetables, and they were well stocked here."
Mike Rivard, who was diagnosed with a blood cancer that hurts his immune system, came to Zanotto's seniors-only hour, but found the store more crowded than expected.
"Fighting off infections could be a problem for me. So, I was trying to avoid as many germs I possibly could," he says.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.

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