“At your average grocery store visit, you probably do not spend more than 10 minutes” around a clerk, she added. “I wouldn’t say that that means there’s no possibility you could contract the virus, but it means that for our purposes, you wouldn’t meet the definition of a close contact for tracing purposes.”

She stressed that the local health district has been “impressed by the many actions our local grocery stores have taken to keep their stores safe while also continuing to provide an essential service to the community.”

The measures include signs in checkout lines that mark where customers should stand to maintain social distancing; plexiglass shields at cash registers to keep employees safe; limiting how many customers can be in a store at once; making the shopping aisles one way; and frequent disinfecting of carts, conveyor belts and credit card machines.

“We thank the many grocery stores employees for continuing to do their jobs,” Balmes–John said, “though we do want to continue to remind them that if they are sick or experiencing symptoms, please stay home from work.”