Gordon and Julie Jones fuel up at Hyde Mobil on Broadway in Saranac Lake on Monday afternoon. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

On Monday, Franklin County sent out a flyer for gas stations to put up, warning customers that fuel pump handles and their credit card keypads can be contaminated with the novel coronavirus and urging precaution. Several stations in the area have already been making changes to keep customers, employees and the general public safe as they travel around.

“Despite social distancing, some essential workers still need to commute in their cars, and many others need to drive to places for food, medicine, and other supplies and services,” the flyer says.

It recommends keeping disinfectant wipes or paper towels in your vehicle, or wearing gloves. It asks gas purchasers to wipe down surfaces before and after they use them, or to use paper as a barrier. The same goes for hands.

“After any trip outside your home during this unusual time, remember to wash your hands before touching anything at home,” the flyer says.

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The key pad and card slot on a gas pump at Stewart’s Shop in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

In Tupper Lake

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Larkin’s Junction Depot Manager Stephen Jellie said he is only open for business because he is taking so many precautions. The pumps at the Tupper Lake gas station are cleaned once an hour with alcohol wipes, there is a hand sanitation station set up in the parking lot, and the coffee pots have been moved outside to limit social distancing “choke points.”

Jellie said he is keeping the convenience store attached to the gas station open because “we sell the necessities here, and some things that other people consider necessities: beer and cigarettes.

“It’s a real positive thing, to be able to stay open and keep your business running,” he added. “It’s also a real challenge.”

Larkin’s Junction Depot in Tupper Lake has a mandatory hand sanitizer station outside its convenience store. (Provided photo — Stephen Jellie)

He said his employees are at risk and that, with a staff of less than five, if one person gets sick they’ll all have to quarantine and the business will have to close. Jellie said all employees wear gloves and he has provided rudimentary masks, but they are not mandatory. There is also a plexiglass barrier at the cash register between customers and cashiers.

He said a stop at the sanitizing station at the entrance is mandatory to shop inside, and that he is limiting the number of customers in the store at once to two or three.

Coffee drinkers buy their cups inside and then fill them outside, where there is fresh air and more room. He also cleans the coffee pot handles regularly.

Jellie said he had thought about closing his convenience store to walk-in customers, limiting it to pick-up only, but that he is not going that far yet.

He said he wishes businesses like his had better access to infection information from counties and towns, saying he feels the current information is “lacking.” He’s been wanting a town-by-town breakdown of COVID-19 cases. He said many people think of the pandemic as a reality television show, only watching it on TV and not believing it’s in their town.

Tupper Lake is in Franklin County. Neighboring Essex County decided Monday it will start sharing more detailed breakdowns of cases.

Jellie also said that between the people he sees in his shop and the number of out-of-state license plates he sees at the pumps, there are many people still traveling to town.

“There’s no question, we’re still seeing what I think is the summer population moving in early,” Jellie said. “I think at this point in time we just have to embrace that. Those people are generally part of our summer community. While I’m a bit frustrated that it’s occurring, the reality is that it is occurring. The state and federal governments did not do anything to prevent people from moving from hot spots.”

Jellie said alienating these part-time residents is not the right thing to do, but he is frustrated that the government had not locked down travel to contain the virus.

“This isn’t ‘Red Dawn,'” Jellie said, referencing the 1984 Cold War film. “We’re not running from the Russians to the mountains. You’re bringing the enemy with you.”

He said he appreciates the additional business, as mud season is usually his slow time of year, but he’d rather slow the spread to salvage the summer season.

“I can live with a slow spring,” Jellie said. “Spring’s already always slow. I can’t live with a dead summer.”

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Maplefields

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The manager of the Ray Brook Sunoco and Maplefields, Chris Johnson, said business has been much slower than usual, and that sandwich and coffee sales have taken a especially big hit, only about half as much as usual.

“Usually we have constant traffic coming in and out of the door,” Johnson said. “Now it’s like you sit here for 10 or 15 minutes and you don’t see anybody at all.”

He said the gas pumps are sprayed down daily and that there are gloves from the deli available at the pumps. He said he expect an order of the gloves to be used at the diesel fuel pumps soon, but they’ve been on back order.

Inside, the cash register line has 6-foot markers on the floor to keep customers separated, as well as a plexiglass shield between customers and employees. All employees are wearing gloves and have masks provided to them, but they are not mandatory.

“We, of course, couldn’t order them,” Johnson said. “We had a customer at our Malone store who was in all the time — a woman who likes to do sewing — so she made a ton of masks for the whole company.”

He said he has been grateful there have been no changes to hours of operation and that no employees have been laid off.

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Others

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Hyde Fuel owns two Mobil gas stations and convenience stores in Saranac Lake, plus one in Tupper Lake. In Saranac Lake, Manager Peter Van Ettin did not elaborate but said both locations are following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on how to keep their locations safe.

The Hyde Mobil location on Lake Flower Avenue, Saranac Lake, has plexiglass panes at the cash registers, and some employees are wearing masks.

At Saranac Lake’s other Hyde Mobil, on Broadway, some precautions were taken at the gas pumps Tuesday afternoon. During a span of about 15 minutes, five vehicles pulled in for gas, and a worker at the store was wiping down the pump handles and keypads. One customer filling up was wearing one of the blue plastic gloves that have become a familiar sight these days.

Stewart’s Shops are common throughout the North Country. The one in Saranac Lake referred questions to an official spokesperson for the Saratoga Springs-based company.

“Our (employees) are required to wash their hands between tasks and glove changes,” Erica Komoroske, a PR specialist for Stewart’s Shops, wrote in a press release. “They are routinely sanitizing food prep and customer area surfaces as well as pin pads, door handles, coffee pot handles and high touch areas.”

Komoroske said Stewart’s Shops are not allowing people to congregate inside and have signs posted to remind customers to distance themselves from each other. She also said employees can wear masks if they choose to, and that a limited supply of masks were sent to the shops. They can wear their own masks, and they are all supplied with gloves.

“Our partners are doing their best to limit shop traffic and enforce 6 ft distancing between customers,” Komoroske wrote.

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Staff Writer Lou Reuter contributed to this report.