Businesses adopted stricter health policies, even as dire predictions didn't materialize

Coronavirus in the United States has brought with it no small amount of dire predictions, including that 200,000 Americans were poised to die this spring in an outbreak that would bring the medical system to its knees. 

Albeit, more than 50,000 Americans have died and nearly 1 million have been confirmed to be infected. But thankfully, the worst case scenario has not yet come to pass. And there are positive, though qualified, signs the country is beginning to recover.

Most of the U.S. medical system has avoided being overwhelmed. Outside of a few densely populated hotspots, hospitals have largely seen no major crush of COVID-19 patients, to the point that many of them are laying off staff due to lack of patients. States such as Florida, which it was imagined would be overrun with COVID-19 patients due to their less-than-strict lockdown measures, have not, as of yet, seen a surge of coronavirus hospitalizations; indeed, an influential COVID-19 model last week downgraded Florida's death forecast by 70 percent. 

Perhaps most promisingly, ongoing serology tests across the country have revealed that the coronavirus may actually be far more widespread, and far less lethal, than initial estimates: Studies in California, Massachusetts, Florida and elsewhere have all indicated vastly larger coronavirus infection rates than have officially been tallied. Estimated death rates for the disease, which just several weeks ago were pegged as brutally high as 3.0%, are now possibly hovering closer to that of a bad seasonal flu. 

Still, the fear of coronavirus runs pervasively high throughout the country and that has prompted several prominent business chains to escalate their health and sanitation policies, imposing stricter safety measures on their staff and their customers.

The most notable transformation of American life over the past several weeks has been the public wearing of masks: If you go out in public today, particularly in a retail environment, you will very likely see many if not most people wearing face masks: Medical-grade masks, makeshift bandanas, scarves, sometimes even sweaters or t-shirts pulled up over noses. 

Businesses are increasingly responding to this environment by mandating that their employees wear masks while on the job. Walmart and Sam's Club employees are now required to wear masks during their shifts, as are employees and vendors at Aldi.

The grocery chain Publix has imposed that requirement on its employees, as well, as have some area Krogers. Harris Teeters now mandate masks for employees. The chain Fresh Market also requires its workers to wear a face covering. 

In some cases, these additional measures have come even after chains have made already-drastic changes to their stores in response to the outbreak.

Walmart earlier this month imposed a 20% customer capacity limit in all of its stores; Kroger likewise cut the capacity of its stores by 50%. Yet even the mask mandates on top of the customer limits did not go far enough for the nation's largest retailer: This week Walmart announced it was limiting returns on certain items, and it has also defaulted to "no-contact" curbside delivery at its stores, in which employees bringing groceries out to your car will drop them in your truck without ever having to interact with you. 

Some companies have taken even more aggressive measures. Menards, a home improvement chain located mostly in the Midwest, has banned children from its stores. Public health experts have even begun suggesting that grocery stores nationwide should ban customers altogether, switching instead to 100 percent curbside pickup models. 

These measures are being imposed even as the risks of being infected by shopping remain uncertain. Earlier this month one researcher from the University of Bonn in Germany announced the results of a study showing "no significant risk" of contracting COVID-19 from shopping. Outbreaks were instead found to have occurred due to "people being closer together over a longer period of time." 

Grocery stores and other retail outlets, of course, are considering their bottom line. In the midst of a pandemic it might make financial as well as healthful sense to ramp up the safety measures at your store: If every other outlet in town is mandating masks and forcing customers to social distance, bucking the trend can come with a business penalty.

The questions now are how far into the future will these policies persist, and how will they impact consumer confidence in the long run. That question may be answered when some states begin a phased re-opening over the next several weeks.