Modesto residents shop for elderly amid coronavirus outbreak, visit mall
About 40 people searching for canned food lined up outside the Modesto WinCo around noon Monday, waiting for their turn to enter and prepare their family for the coronavirus outbreak.
To prevent overcrowding in stores, an employee let groups inside as shoppers left the exit doors, pushing their fully loaded carts out to the rainy parking lot.
Teri Billups made it to the front of the line in about five minutes, but said WinCo was her third store of the day after she couldn’t find two weeks worth of canned goods at Costco and Walmart. Her 72-year-old mother is immunocompromised, Billups said, so she hasn’t left the house since Gov. Gavin Newsom called for seniors to stay at home.
“When I’m at work she needs to be able to eat,” said Billups, who works for Stanford Health Care and can’t telecommute. “It’s better for her to stay in than go out.”
A few minutes later, Lauren Thomas joined the line after convincing her grandparents that she could buy groceries for the three of them. Her 87-year-old grandfather continues to visit friends, Thomas said, and still leaves his Modesto home to buy the paper at the dollar store every morning.
“We’re trying to have him wash his hands in the garage before he comes into the house and keeping an eye on him,” Thomas said. “But he is a bit stubborn and he sees a lot more risk in getting into car accident than catching a virus, just as far as statistics. He doesn’t seem too concerned.”
The pandemic is the reason why Thomas is staying with her grandparents longer than planned, however. She intended to visit them for two weeks, but plans to stay for a month before returning to Wales in the United Kingdom, where she is a photography student.
At the Costco about four miles away, employees also limited the number of people who can enter the produce section at one time to follow social distancing guidelines. Shoppers said the store ran out of items such as diapers, toilet paper and water.
“It used to be fun to walk around Costco and today, everyone who was there...didn’t want to be there,” a man named Robert said. “They were all in a hurry and going in and out.”
The Fit Republic on Dale Road kept its doors open Monday afternoon, but an employee said “it’s only a matter of time” until gyms close in Modesto, following the footsteps of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Members have started to put their accounts on hold, she said. For now, the gym has a sign as you enter through the front door, reminding people to wash their hands.
Meanwhile, business at Vintage Faire Mall continued as usual. Around 1 p.m., about 60 people could be seen walking around the mall and another 25 people ate in the food court. A woman got her eyebrows threaded, two children drove miniature motorcycles and about five people shopped in Cotton On, which displayed signs saying the store closed its dressing room and is not accepting cash.
About six mall stores were closed because of the pandemic, including Starbucks, Apple, Sprint, T-Mobile and Abercrombie & Fitch. A couple posted signs notifying customers of reduced hours.
One woman who worked at the mall said more children visited that morning and afternoon than usual, and more people left with shopping bags than a typical Monday.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 7:14 AM with the headline "Modesto residents shop for elderly amid coronavirus outbreak, visit mall."
