WHILE many people have set up office in the comfort of their homes, shop workers are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. Exposed to hundreds if not thousands of frantic people every day, retail workers are particularly at risk of falling victim to the virus.

But despite this, there’s currently a severe lack of protections in place to keep them safe. British stores have yet to fully implement measures already rolled out in Ireland such as limiting capacity, drawing out social distancing markers on the floor, putting up perspex shields on check outs or giving out protective wear to workers.

“There’s no masks, no shields, no mapping out of the floor to make sure people stand far enough away from you, no crowd control,” Sally Smith,* a supermarket worker and Usdaw rep from Hertfordshire, tells me. “Customers have been queuing out the store from half five in the morning and going all the way back and it’s just carnage because they’re in the store at the same time.”

Smith has since called in sick, fearing she has contracted coronavirus after waking up with a dry cough and chest pains. She blamed the lack of protective measures in stores for falling ill, adding that she is also in the “at risk category” having had part of her lung removed in an operation some years ago. The Hertfordshire worker says it’s up to the government to put these protections in place.