New cleaning and mitigation efforts required for food selling-establishments and pharmacies

Executive Order 2020-109, originally issued as E.O. 2020-60 on Sunday, April 26 and continuing through the state of emergency, requires all food-selling establishments (grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants) and pharmacies must follow the additional cleaning and mitigation requirements listed below. Vendors moving between food-selling establishments must frequently clean and disinfect frequent touch points. In addition, grocery stores and pharmacies must provide at least two hours of designated shopping hours each week for vulnerable populations (seniors age 60+, pregnant women, those with chronic conditions). The order also extends the window for food establishment renewals until 60 days after the end of the declared states of emergency and disaster. It also waives the assessment of all late fees during the 2020–2021 license year. The order was effective immediately.

Cleaning and mitigation efforts:

• Customers must wear a face covering to enter the business (if they can medically tolerate it).
• Provide access to hand-washing facilities, including those available in public restrooms.
• Use best efforts to ensure checkout employees to 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, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• 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.
• 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, including by cleaning and disinfecting frequent touch points throughout the day such as point of sale terminals at registers, shopping carts, and shopping baskets.
• 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.

Additional employer requirements for employees:

• Require checkout employees to wear coverings over their noses and mouths, such as homemade masks, scarves, bandanas, or handkerchiefs.
• Ensure that both employees and customers remain at least six feet apart to the maximum extent possible, including during employee breaks, for example by reviewing floor plans, creating temporary barriers, designating aisles as one-way only, and using floor decals where lines occur.
• Allow employees sufficient break time to wash hands as needed.
• 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, 2020, whichever is later.
  • Nothing in this executive order abrogates any right to disability benefits.
  • Employees who take an unpaid leave of absence as described in this subsection are encouraged to apply for unemployment benefits.
• Ensure that both employees and customers remain at least six feet apart to the maximum extent possible, including during employee breaks, for example by reviewing floor plans, creating temporary barriers, designating aisles as one-way only, and using floor decals where lines occur.
• Develop and implement a daily screening program for all staff upon or just prior to reporting to work sites (described in detail in the order, see section 3(o) or below).
  • Prohibit employees who are sick from reporting to work and send employees home if they display symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive.
  • The quarantine requirements do not apply to pharmacists or pharmacy technicians’ ability to report to work.
  • If an employee has been exposed to someone with COVID-19, they may continue to work if they have their temperature taken daily, stay six feet away from other employees and customers, and the business cleans and disinfects all areas such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment routinely known to be impacted by the exposed employee for 14 days after last exposure.
• 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 and in no case later than 12 hours after receiving the test result, without revealing the personal health-related information of any employee.

Daily employee screening requirements:

• The screening procedures must include the following questions:
  1. Do you have any of the following symptoms?
     • Fever of 100.4 degrees or higher (as measured by a touchless thermometer if available, but a verbal confirmation of lack of fever is sufficient if a touchless thermometer is not available);
     • Cough (excluding chronic cough due to a known medical reason other than COVID-19);
     • Shortness of breath;
     • Sore throat; or
     • Diarrhea (excluding diarrhea due to a known medical reason other than COVID-19).
  2. Have you travelled internationally or outside of Michigan in the last 14 days, excluding commuting from a home location outside of Michigan? For purposes of this order, commuting is defined as traveling between one’s home and work on a regular basis.
  3. Have you had any close contact in the last 14 days with someone with a diagnosis of COVID-19?
• Any affirmative response to screening questions (1)(A) or (B) above requires the individual to be excluded:
  • For at least 72 hours with no fever (three full days of no fever without use of medicine that reduces fever) and other symptoms have improved (for example, when cough and shortness of breath have improved) and at least seven days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
  • Except for necessary workers engaged in travel related to supply chain and critical infrastructure, for 14 days following travel unless that travel was due to commuting from a home location outside of Michigan.
• An employee who provides an affirmative response to screening question (1)(C) may be allowed to continue work at the employer’s discretion provided they remain asymptomatic and the employer implements the following additional precautions to protect the employee and the community:
  • Employers should measure the employee’s temperature and assess symptoms each day before they start work. Ideally, temperature checks should happen before the individual enters the facility. A touchless thermometer, or a dedicated thermometer for the employee if not touchless, should be used. Sharing of any thermometer other than a touchless thermometer is strictly prohibited.
  • As long as the employee does not have a fever or other symptoms, they should self-monitor under the supervision of their employer’s occupational health program or other programs in place to protect employee health and safety.
  • If the employee begins to experience symptoms during the day, they should be sent home immediately.
  • The employee should wear a face mask at all times while in the workplace for 14 days after last exposure. Employers can issue face masks or can approve employees’ supplied cloth face coverings in the event of shortages.
  • The employee should maintain at least six feet of distance from other people as work duties permit.
  • Beyond standard cleaning protocol, clean and disinfect all areas such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment routinely known to be impacted by the exposed employee for 14 days after last exposure.
• Nothing in this section limits the operations of first responders, health care institutions, public health functions, pharmacies, and other entities that are involved in the mitigation of risk during this pandemic.