Residents in Arnold have been voicing their fears about Covid safety in supermarkets during lockdown.
Councillor Henry Wheeler who is Gedling Borough Councillor for Coppice Ward, told Gedling Eye a large number of residents had contacted him worried about lack of social distancing and also the number of people allowed into supermarkets in the area.
Councillor Wheeler has now written to director of Public Health England for Nottinghamshire County Council Jonathan Gribbin calling for stricter measures to be put into place.
Mr Wheeler told Gedling Eye: “It’s vitally important that supermarkets and other essential food outlets have proper restrictions in place to stop the spread of Coronavirus”.
“I am receiving complaints about the lack of proper enforcement of social distancing, lack of monitoring of people entering and leaving a store as well as inadequate one way systems and aisles and entrances being blocked”.
“Inadequate enforcement of health and safety measures in store often means queuing systems end up blocking shopping aisles”.
“I am pleased that the concerns I have raised will be looked at and a review of enforcement arrangements will take place”.
“Separately, I have asked Public Health Bosses to consider supermarket staff to be given equal importance alongside other frontline Key Workers to be prioritised for the Covid 19 vaccination as part of the next phase of roll out”
Mr Gribbin was quick to respond to concerns raised by Cllr Wheeler.
He said: “Thank you to Cllr Wheeler for raising this matter which I raised with a colleague earlier in the week who agreed to review enforcement arrangements by district/boroughs.
“Since then I noted that the issue has received some media profile with some retail chains adopting a more assertive approach.
He added: “Work is under way to identify groups which should be prioritised for vaccination in its next phase of rollout and I will share your comments to those involved in that locally.”
Earlier in the week, Morrisons said they would refuse to allow customers not wearing face masks into their store in Netherfield. Tesco and Asda have since announced a ban.
Hello
I know that the government are doing all that they can to help fight the Corona virus. I’m so pleased to hear that the supermarkets are being listened to. I work in one so I know the strain and the anxiety that it is causing to all the staff. People coming into store without wearing a face mask are putting us at risk. We have worked hard to keep our staff and customers as safe as can. We are also front line key workers but we are being over looked. We would also request the vaccine to come to us sooner. We work tirelessly to keep the shelves stocked for our customers. We are not allowed to ENFORCE people to wear a mask that are not exempt. This puts a lot of strain on us and customers. I thank you for reading this feed back.