Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott both agreed that grocery store employees need to be prioritized as emergency personnel during the coronavirus outbreak.
The two states both deemed grocery store workers as emergency personnel to ensure their access to benefits being put in place to help first responders and healthcare providers to address COVID-19 while the rest of the country shuts down.
In Minnesota, Walz’s classification allows grocery store workers to be eligible for child care services for their children while the schools are closed statewide. He listed “food distribution workers” as “tier 2” emergency personnel.
“Care for children of educators, gas and electric utility workers, food distribution personnel, water treatment staff, and others outlined below is essential to ensuring the public continues to receive these vital services,” Walz noted in an executive order.
He added, “Districts should make every effort to provide care for school-age children of workers in the areas below, if they are able to do so while adhering to the Minnesota Department of Health’s social distancing guidelines.”
The Minnesota Grocers association commended the classification, tweeting: “@GovTimWalz has classified ‘food distribution workers,’ which is store clerks, stockers, etc, as Tier 2 emergency works. This allows frontline workers childcare as they serve and feed Minnesotans. Thank you @GovTimWalz for supporting our industry during this challenging time!”
[Read more: Kroger offers some employees $25 in groceries instead of paid leave during coronavirus outbreak]
.@GovTimWalz has classified “food distribution workers,” which is store clerks, stockers, etc, as Tier 2 emergency works. This allows frontline workers childcare as they serve and feed Minnesotans. Thank you @GovTimWalz for supporting our industry during this challenging time!
— MN Grocers Assoc. (@MNGrocers) March 18, 2020
Scott included a similar provision in his executive order on Thursday. He officially added grocery store employees to the state’s list of emergency personnel.
Mike Schirling, commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Safety, announced the decision, saying: “This is an interesting time. Where in emergencies we think of essential services as the basics of power, water, and emergency service provision, that is pretty vastly expanded at this point.”
Grocery stores have struggled to keep their shelves stocked as panic around the coronavirus has some hoarding food and supplies. President Trump met with corporate officials from many grocery chains on Sunday to discuss supply chain planning.
As of Thursday afternoon, Minnesota had 89 confirmed cases of the coronavirus while Vermont had 19.
