by Kirsten Moore, Cooperative Services Director
Every day this past month we have seen progress towards pandemic recovery and that brighter future we keep talking about as a cooperative and in our community. Here’s the latest updates regarding COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Vaccinations
When last month’s Reader was published, Co-op employees were patiently awaiting vaccinations to come available to Tier 1B essential workers starting March 1. Our time has arrived and the Co-op has made great strides to make it easy for our employees to get vaccinated. All employees have been supplied an employer code from Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) to register to receive vaccines through the state vaccine supply, have employment verification letters to establish vaccine eligibility, and have flexible paid and unpaid leave options to make vaccine appointments as soon as possible. Some employees were able to start scheduling vaccinations under Tier 1B right away through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, while others waited for more vaccines to come available through PHMDC channels. While PHMDC and GHC had initially forecasted inviting Tier 1B food chain workers to schedule vaccines in late April or May, by March 12, all employees participating in our healthcare plan through Group Health Cooperative (GHC) were invited to receive the vaccine through their clinics. By March 16, that invitation was extended by GHC to all Co-op employees regardless of whether they were participating in our plan. We are grateful for our partnerships with PHMDC and GHC, and the invitation to receive vaccinations in Tier 1B sooner rather than later.
The Co-op supports COVID-19 vaccination, however we do recognize that employees may have personal reasons to decline vaccination. The Co-op does not require vaccination, nor do we keep records of specific individuals who have or have not been vaccinated. That said, we did just start an anonymous registry for Co-op employees to share that they have received their vaccines so that employees can see aggregate data estimating the percentage of employees who have been partially or fully vaccinated and we can use this data to make decisions pertaining to the future of our COVID-19 protocols.
No Longer Reserving Opening two Hours for Vulnerable Populations
Since the Safer At Home Order, the Co-op has been reserving the first two open hours of the day for shoppers who are seniors or who have compromised immune systems. We lifted this restriction on March 29. This change reflects not only that COVID-19 cases in Dane County are low but also that many of the people who would have previously benefited from these restrictions have now been invited and already began receiving vaccinations in the county (as of March 19, over 85% of Dane County residents age 65+ had been at least partially vaccinated). If data shows that there is a significant need to set aside time for certain vulnerable populations in the future, we are leaving the option open to reassess. Here’s what this means for you:
• Everyone is welcome to shop from the time we open, everyday;
• Traffic at the stores is typically light during that time of day, and so it’s still a good time to have more space to shop;
• If you want to plan ahead to shop, you can visit our website to see how busy we are in real time, or check our Google Business listing for typical popular times by store.
Fruit and Vegetable Box Program Ending with April Subscription
At the beginning of the pandemic we were in the middle of piloting our online pickup and delivery service. By mid-March of 2020, we had expanded from 11 pickup and delivery slots to 200-300 pickup slots a week, and faced continued challenges in meeting demand. At the same time, our farm partners and other farmers in the community were struggling to move the crops they had planted for area cafeterias and restaurants, farmers using the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) model rapidly sold out of subscription farm shares, and the demand for our prepared foods made in our production kitchen was very low. To meet our shoppers needs for more curbside pickup options, support our local farmers and Co-op producers, and provide more work for our production kitchen, we started offering monthly fruit and vegetable box subscriptions where shoppers could pre-pay for a month’s work of produce curated and packed weekly to pickup outside our stores. The landscape has changed over the past year: we’re seeing less pressure on our local farmers and Co-op producers, more demand for our standard deli and baked goods made at the production kitchen, and less wait times to receive our online pickup and delivery service. With more and more people being vaccinated every day, and the spring and summer CSA season on the horizon, it seemed like ending the fruit and vegetable box program after April made the most sense.
In-Store Capacity Limits
To date, more people in Dane County have received the vaccine than there have been cases of COVID-19 and more than four times the number of people who are active in our cooperative have been vaccinated. In light of the consistently improving vaccination rate and low COVID-19 case rates in the County, the Co-op has been making plans to adjust capacities in the stores. The Co-op has been operating at below the 50% approved capacity levels established by PHMDC in June 2020 throughout the pandemic, with all three sites operating at about 25% capacity. As more of our employees are on the road to partial or full vaccination, and PHMDC continues to update and relax their restrictions, we will gradually increase capacity towards PHMDC capacity limits when and where we feel we have room to make those adjustments safely. We started discussing these changes with managers and employees in February in COVID-19 protocol meetings with our employees’ union stewards and the conversation continues. We agree with PHMDC’s approach to following the data for phasing reopening and continue to take all of their guidelines, especially with regard to social distancing and face coverings, very seriously.
Sitting Outside the Co-op
Spring is here, and this year we welcome the return of tables outside. We expect this to happen gradually, based on the needs and space available at each of our stores, starting with Willy East. We are following PHMDC protocols for allowing outdoor seating. That means that people sitting at a table should be from the same household or living unit and that tables will be spaced to allow 6 feet of distance between customers who are not from the same household or living unit. Please keep your face covering on when interacting with our employees and others on premises unless you are actively eating or drinking, and please limit standing around our tables when you are in transit.
COVID-19 Protocols Remain Despite Increase in Vaccinations
We are excited about the data showing that COVID-19 continues to pose less and less of a threat in our community, but make no mistake, it is still a threat! PHMDC made this clear in their amendment to Emergency Order 14 that remains in effect. Not all employees nor shoppers have been vaccinated, and while we do not expect to ever see 100% vaccination rates, the current vaccination rate is still too low to forgo face coverings or social distancing. All customers and employees must continue to follow Co-op COVID-19 protocols while on our premises regardless of personal vaccination status until further notice. Thank you for continuing to respect our protocols when you shop. We too, are antsy for a less restrictive future, and your support will help all of us get there safer and faster.
A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Every day the news about COVID-19 changes and gives us more reason to have hope. While we continue striving to keep our stores safe to shop and work we will continue to methodically review our practices, gradually retire the ones that seem safe to let go, and monitor PHMDC data to change course if the tide shifts direction. To those of you who have stuck with us through it all, thank you for your continued support for your Co-op! To those of you who may start visiting us more often again as you return to your workplaces, schools, and other activities, welcome back! There is no complete “off switch” for COVID-19, but we are optimistic about our community’s ability to better control the illness, and we definitely are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.