William Kelly @pbtownreporter Apr 9, 2020 at 4:21 PM The store in the Town of Palm Beach made several changes this week to promote social distancing between customers and employees. The Palm Beach Publix this week implemented a number of changes to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Publix, the island’s only supermarket, is now limiting the number of customers who can be in the store at a given time, and is monitoring customers waiting outside so they maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from one another. RELATED: Coronavirus Florida: Palm Beach residents must stop using closed community pools, officials say. On Thursday morning, the front doors were set up so the south side was for entering and the north side for exiting. An employee was stationed at the entrance to open and close the doors to control the number of customers in the store. There were perhaps 60 people in the line out front, and they appeared to be abiding by markers to keep everyone apart. Some of the employees, and many shoppers, were wearing masks. RELATED: Coronavirus Florida: Tenet hospital nurses describe culture of fear. Inside the store, directional markers now guide shoppers on a path through the store, encouraging a one-way movement through the shopping aisles, so it’s easier for shoppers to maintain a distance of at least six feet, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Markers also have been added to the checkout aisles remind shoppers to keep the social distance. The changes follow weeks of criticism from town officials who said the store was not doing enough to follow the rules of social distancing. It is not known if the changes were in response to town demands because Publix did not return calls seeking comment for this story. […]
