Coronavirus: New Austin Order Targets Stores' Social Distancing

AUSTIN, TX — Austin Mayor Steve Adler signed an updated order on Saturday requiring retail establishments — grocery stores, pharmacies, warehouse stores and the like — to implement controls to ensure social distancing aimed to curb the spread of new coronavirus.

The tactic of social distancing advised by health officials calls for a six-foot distance separating one person from another. The new order seeks to compel retail store operators — that had been all but exempt from previous orders shutting down bars and restaurants — to ensure health officials' suggested distance between patrons in lines both in front and inside stores.

“While the city is doing well minimizing close interactions, we must do more to reduce the number of people congregating closely at stores,” Adler said in a prepared statement. “This new city order issued tonight requires this, and adds requirements for certain critical infrastructure to help ensure they are able to maintain operations. Let’s stay focused on physical separation, and do our part to flatten the curve.”

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The newly released store-centered order reads in part: “Controls may include, but are not limited to, requiring each person to take a shopping cart or placing markers on the floor," the order partially reads. "The goal is to keep people from being too close together."

The latest decree comes amid the growing threat of COVID-19 dramatically illustrated by a dizzying series of measures triggered to mitigate the potential spread of illness:

• Saturday's mandate was issued the same evening as the illness count for new coronavirus now being called COVID-19 grew to 62 positive cases the same evening — five more patients than the previous day and up from 23 a mere three days ago on Wednesday.
• The new order also comes hours after Austin installed its first now-operational testing site to detect the spreading virus — one of 11 test collection points in a public-private partnership putting priority on the most vulnerable with medical referrals.
• The same day of the decree, three of the city's major hospitals — Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White, and St. David’s HealthCare — announced they would implement a "no visitors" policy starting on Sunday, March 22, to protect patients, physicians, staff and others against potential exposure to the virus.
• The latest decree comes one day after Austin and Travis County concurrently implemented new orders to align with statewide restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of new coronavirus, officials said. Those new orders effective until May 1 also include specificity of language in terms of crowd limits and related matters encompassed under the theme of "Staying home is safest."
• The new order also comes one day after Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott heightens message of precaution amid dreaded evidence of community spread — denoting contagion achieved locally rather than exposure from after travel abroad. Escott said Friday the community is now at a "critical" juncture of the scourge, saying health officials are investigating the dynamics of five identified clusters of congregation in tracing origins of local illness spread.

The new order that took effect at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, also includes guidance for so-called critical infrastructure to ensure there are safeguards to protect "...the integrity of the community’s public health and safety."

View the City of Austin's Order HERE.

In addition, Austin Public Health is strongly encouraging critical infrastructure employers to institute non-invasive temperature checks for staff prior to entering a critical infrastructure facility. If an employee has a temperature above 99.6° F, they should be sent home.

Critical infrastructure includes, but is not limited to, all public and private facilities and assets, such as our community’s energy, water, wastewater, transportation, banking and telecommunication networks, as defined in the order.

A previous order issued at the city level by Adler and county-wide by Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt on March 17 forced the closure of all bars and restaurants in the city to promote the practice of social distancing — a key action toward flattening the curve of COVID-19 expanding both locally and beyond.

Those dual orders also reduced the number of people allowed to congregate to ten — a fraction of the original 2,500- and subsequent 250- and then 50-person limits passed piecemeal as the COVID-19 threat grew in scope. Three days later, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a virtually identical order but encompassing the entire state — about a week after his counterparts in other states implemented similar measures.

Related stories:

• Coronavirus: Austin Illness Count Grows To 62 Patients
  
• Coronavirus: Austin Hospitals Implement 'No Visitors' Policy
• Coronavirus: Austin, Travis County Issue New Orders
• Coronavirus: Austin Public Health Launches 1st Testing Site
  
• Coronavirus: Evidence Of Austin Community Spread Prompts Alert
• Coronavirus: Austin Public Health Urges Community Safeguards
• Coronavirus: Texas Governor Orders Bars, Eateries, Schools Closed

Given their critical nature in providing food and other necessary supplies, grocery stores have been all but exempt from such restrictions — a status dramatically illustrated on social media where residents communicate on customer surges as they scramble to secure food, water, toiletries and supplies. Customers in close proximity to one another in their quest for rations runs counter to guidelines on social distancing issued by health agencies running the gamut from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the national level to Austin Public Health at the most granular.

The new order seeks to correct the inconsistency. It also compels workers to stay home if feeling seek to avoid contact with members of the public. As stated in the order, employees who work in and around critical infrastructure should refrain from reporting to work when falling within any of the following criteria:

• Has signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as a cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat;
• has a fever greater than 99.6°F;
• in the previous 14 days has had contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and did not have the appropriate personal protective equipment designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); is under investigation for COVID-19; or is ill with a respiratory illness; or
• has traveled to an area deemed by the World Health Organization or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a “hot spot”for contagion.

If the employee meets any of the criteria listed above, the employer should direct the employee to return home, as stated in the latest municipal order. While the new order only recommends temperature screenings, officials note, the health authority says there could be future requirements.