Wakefern Food Corp., the retailer-owned grocery cooperative that operates ShopRite and PriceRite Marketplace supermarkets in New York and Connecticut, has initiated new safety measures to ensure employees and vendors with COVID-19 do not set foot in their stores.

According to the company, all stores will use noncontact forehead infrared thermometers to take the temperature of associates and vendors when they arrive for work. Any person who is found with an elevated temperature will be sent home. Wakefern also plans to initiate the procedure at its warehouses.

The company has also begun to limit store occupancy during peak shopping hours and to equip all store associates with protective masks. Stores are also taking extra steps to deep-clean and sanitize food contact surfaces and high-touch areas including point-of-service pin pads and shopping carts.

“We are closely monitoring the fast-moving COVID-19 emergency and all new recommendations and CDC protocols, and using that information to guide our decisions,” said Joe Colalillo, chairman and CEO of Wakefern Food Corp.