Staying Safe While Shopping During The NSW Covid Outbreak

Staying Safe While Shopping

If you live in New South Wales in July 2021 then you are no stranger to the word Covid lately, as the state battles a second wave and an ongoing lockdown.  Many are now fearful of simple everyday tasks such as retail shopping, with the possibility of picking up the virus while doing so and it is essential to follow the NSW government CoVid guidelines.

As a country, we have been extremely lucky with handling this virus, so understanding the different means to shop safely may be new to some.

Groceries and essential items like adult personal care still need to be bought, and going shopping is inevitable for most. Here are different ways you can help protect yourself and your family with covid safe retail shopping during this outbreak.

Wear a mask

You’ve heard this everywhere, and it’s everywhere for a reason. We’ve been living this pandemic lifestyle for quite some time now, so chances are you’ve picked up a mask or two over that time.

If you’re going anywhere out in public, put your mask on. This not only helps protect yourself but as well as others who are more vulnerable. Think of it this way, if someone sneezes next to you and no ones wearing a mask, you’re going to get covered in bits of saliva and mucus (yuck!). If someone sneezes while you’re wearing a mask, you’re more protected from inhaling their germs. If someone sneezes while you and said person are wearing a mask, you’re both at a much higher level of protection as the sneeze has to both escape their mask and enter yours, which is very unlikely.

Carry sanitiser everywhere

Mini hand sanitisers should be your best friend when leaving your home. You have no idea who has touched the same things as you and whether or not they are infected. After shopping and before getting in your car/home be sure to sanitise your hands to kill any germs.

Avoid touching your face before you sanitise also (which can be hard, it’s amazing how many times we unknowingly touch our faces!)

Many shops have sanitiser stations at their entrances to keep their customers safe. If you don’t own a mini sanitiser be sure to take advantage of this.

Check in

Use your smartphone and check into the shops you’re visiting. If someone visited that same store as you who has since come down infectious, contact traces can track down every single person that checked into that store around the same time and warn them that they may have been in contact with someone who is now sick with covid and you need to isolate yourself until you receive a negative test result.

Trust us, little things like this are what’s going to help us reduce the spread and get our lives back to normal sooner rather than later. It only takes a second as you enter the store, and you could even save lives by being informed if you need to isolate.

Distance yourself

Take note of the 6 feet apart rule, it’s there for a reason. You don’t know the person in front of you at the grocery store and you don’t know where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with. For your sake, treat everyone as if they are infectious and keep your distance where possible.

The line won’t move any quicker if you stand closer to the person in front of you.

Pay with your card

Most people have already adopted this method over the last few years as our money becomes more digital, but if you still like to pay with cash it’s time to put it back in your pocket and take out your card instead.

Paying via card means only you have to touch your card (and you know where your own card has been!) Paying by cash involves change and handling of money back and forth between you and the server/self-checkout. Every reduced amount of contact is going to help you stay safe, no matter how small.

Use Click & Collect Services

Click and Collect Services allow you to order and pre-pay for your purchases online.  You can browse at your leisure when visiting an online store and choose the items that you could otherwise not do in store because of Covid restrictions.  It also allows contactless purchases if you choose to utilize a service like the Adultsmart Contactless Click and Collect Option,  Shop CoVid safely.

Adultsmart is conveniently situated at 12 Production Ave, Kogarah in Sydney’s South.  The telephone is (02) 9533 7217 and the Covid trading hours that are subject to change are 9am-10pm Monday to Sunday.

We can’t avoid the retail stores forever, and unfortunately, this pandemic isn’t going away overnight. Take the precautions mentioned above for the highest possibility of staying safe and healthy.

The more of us that are cautious when out in public the sooner we will get past the worst of this pandemic and life will return to normal. Masks won’t need to be worn forever, but they’ll keep your family safe for now.