Lake Region IGA won't allow anyone with a temperature higher than 99 degrees in store to shop

HAWLEY, Pa. — Grocery stores are on the essential list of businesses allowed to be open. One grocery store in Wayne County is taking extra precautions to keep its customers and employees safe.

Grocery stores have been one of the busiest places during the coronavirus pandemic. People are stocking up on essentials, and Lake Region IGA near Hawley has been doing its best to keep up.

"We had to limit how many rolls of toilet paper, how many cases of water, and I saw back in the shelves they're limiting how many gallons of ice cream people got," said Jeff Shook, co-owner of Lake Region IGA.

Customers that come to the store are having their temperatures checked by a staff member before they enter. Anyone with 99 degrees or over is being turned away.

"Just for the safety of our customers, the safety of the community. We're finding a lot of them aren't self-distancing, so we felt we had to try to do a little bit more to help the community stay safe," says Lake Region IGA front end manager Julie Brussell.

Paul Goldie of Hawley usually stops in twice a week to do his normal shopping. He was aware of the changes and was happy to oblige.

"I thought it was great. Gives a little more confidence in the people you're around are OK. Everybody wants to be safe, and we all just have to obey rules at this point," said Goldie.

Store management says keeping up with the demand is harder when people who have summer homes are here in a season that's not typical.

"As their cities or towns are getting shut down, they're coming up here to their summer homes or weekend homes. We don't know what's coming up here or going out, but we welcome them up here. We just have to be safe," continued Julie.