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Price Chopper asks states for help with masks for staff

SCHENECTADY — The CEO of Price Chopper is asking for help from the governors of six states to help the company secure protective equipment for its employees.

Grocery stores were deemed essential businesses in New York state, and many employees are still working as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

In a letter on Friday to the governors of the six states in which it has stores, Price Chopper/Market 32 President and CEO Scott Grimmett asked for help securing consistent supplies of face masks to help protect the chain’s approximately 20,000 employees and grocery workers.

The company operates 133 Price Chopper and Market 32 grocery stores in New York — including Lake Placid — Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Over the last several weeks, Price Chopper/Market 32 has installed plexiglass shields at registers, provided face shields to employees who want to wear them, implemented comprehensive cleaning and sanitization protocols in the stores, limited the number of customers in stores at one time, and enforced in-store social distancing guidelines.

With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent change in its guidelines indicating that supermarket workers should wear masks at work, the company has had difficulty obtaining enough masks, often seeing shipments diverted to other states and other industries, according to a news release from Price Chopper. Employees have had the option of wearing masks or gloves — though the CDC still advises that a rigorous adherence to its hand washing policy is still more effective than gloves — since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re not asking for anything for free,” said Grimmett. “We’re just looking for a reliable supply of equipment to help us and other grocery retailers who are having the same difficulty in securing enough face masks to protect those who are working on the front lines for our communities.”

Last month, Price Chopper/Market 32 announced it would hire 2,000 additional part-time and temporary part-time workers to better serve customers during the outbreak. The company also provided its full- and part-time hourly workers with pay increases in recognition of the efforts they have made to provide for their communities.

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