HOUSTON – Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that starting Friday, some businesses and groups were able to start reopening provided they follow strict guidelines.
The guidelines include limited occupancy, restricted access, social distancing and hygiene guidelines.
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Texas retailers reopened Friday under Abbott’s order, provided they maintained social distancing and hygiene guidelines and only functioned at 25% occupancy. If there are no new flare-ups of coronavirus cases during Phase 1, Abbott said the guidelines will be loosened during Phase 2 in mid-May.
Health protocols for shoppers
In order to ensure Texans continue to be safe through Phase 1 of reopening the economy, the state has laid out some health protocols for shoppers to follow that started May 1:
- Self-screen before going into a retail store. If you have any of these symptoms, don’t go to the restaurant: cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, diarrhea, feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100 degrees.
- If you’ve had close contact with a person who has been confirmed to have coronavirus, don’t go to the store.
- Maintain at least 6 feet of separation from other people who are not a member of your household. If social distancing is not possible, you should try other measures like wearing a face covering, maintaining hand hygiene, cough etiquette, cleanliness and sanitation.
- Wash or disinfect hands when you enter the store, when you interact with employees or other customers or when you touch items in the store.
- Wash or sanitize your hands after the payment process
- Consider wearing a cloth mask or face covering when within six feet of another person who is not a member of your household.
You can read more about health protocols for customers below:
Health protocols for retailers
There are also health protocols in place for store owners who will reopen starting Friday. Some of those protocols are as follows:
Consider dedicating a certain period of time each day for only at-risk customers or deliver purchased goods to vehicles to reduce the need for at-risk customers to enter the store
If practical, monitor what items customers touch to clean or disinfect when the customer leaves the store
Contactless payment is encouraged. Where not available, contact should be minimized
Train all employees on appropriate cleaning and disinfection, hand hygiene, and respiratory etiquette
Read more of the health protocols in place for store owners below: