The Fresh Market, which has an Alexandria grocery store in Bradlee Shopping Center, announced Tuesday it will ask shoppers to wear masks.
In a statement, Fresh Market officials said that starting immediately, all customers must wear face coverings to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A tweet directed customers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website for instructions on how to make a face covering.
While face coverings and cloth masks may not protect a person from catching the coronavirus and becoming ill with COVID-19, masks can prevent asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people from unwittingly spreading the virus.
In addition, the grocery store is promoting social distancing. It has launched a mobile phone app that allows people to check out without going through the checkout lines.
The only Alexandria Fresh Market is in the Bradlee Shopping Center near T.C. Williams High School. It opened there in 2014.
Tuesday, the Alexandria Health Department confirmed seven additional cases of COVID-19 and two additional fatalities in Alexandria, bringing the total number of cases to 248 (including four fatalities). The rise in positive cases is likely due to a combination of additional testing capacity through private healthcare providers as well as an increase in community transmission.
Alexandria officials continue to encourage people to stay home as much as they can, and they believe social (physical) distancing is working to "flatten the curve" of coronavirus infections.
New infectious disease modeling by the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute and the nonprofit RAND Corporation show physical distancing measures that began on March 15 are keeping the rate of new cases steady. This means that although cases are increasing, they are not increasing as quickly as before.
Although data and testing remain limited, current trends suggest the state’s hospital bed capacity will be sufficient in the near future. However, because lifting physical distancing restrictions too soon could quickly lead to a second wave of COVID-19, everyone should remain vigilant in maintaining physical distancing and other measures to continue slowing the spread of the virus.
