Giant Food, Safeway reserves 1-hour of daily shopping for senior citizens

There are special hours at local retailers for at-risk shoppers.

WITH WMA━2 NEWS' MARK ROPER.HE'S LIVE OUTSIDE THE GIANT INTOWSON WITH MORE ON HOW STORESARE PREPARING FOR ANOTHEFLURRY OF SHOPPERS.SINCE THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKHIT THE ━S━ WE'VE SEENPEOPLE FLOCK TO SUPERMARKETSAND START HOARDING.

BUT THELARGE CROWDS POSE A THREAT TOPEOPLE WHO ARE MOST VULNERABLETO THE VIRUS.

AND━ STARTINGTHIS MORNING━ GIANT WILLOFFER DEDICATED SHOPPING HOURSFOR PEOPLE AGE 60 AND UP ASWELL AS PEOPLE WITHCOMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS.OFFICIALS AT OTHER STORES SUCHAS WHOLE FOODS━ WALMART━AND TARGET AS WELL AS SAFEWAYSAY THEY'RE DOING THE SAME.EACH GIANT STORE IN THEMARYLAND━ D━ VIRGINIA━AND DELAWARE AREA WILL RESERVETHE HOUR FROM 6 O'CLOCK TO 7O'CLOCK━ EACH MORNING TOCOME IN TO SHOP AND GET THEITEMS THEY NEED.

SAFEWAY WILLSET ASIDE THE HOURS OF SEVENTO NINE━ EVERY TUESDAY ANDTHURSDAY MORNING SO THOSE ATRISK SHOPPERS.

THESE CHANGESWILL ALLOW PEOPLE WHO ARE MOREVULNERABLE TO THE DANGERS OFTHE CORONAVIRUS━ TO COME INAND SHOP THE AISLES WITHOUTGETTING OVERWHELMED BY THECROWDS AND CONTINUE TOPRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING FORTHEIR SAFETY.

MANY STORES HAVEBEEN PLAYING CATC━UP ANDTRYING TO RESTOCK ESSENTIALITEMS WHICH HAVE BECOME HARDTO FIND THESE DAYS.

PEOPLESTARTED HOARDING TOILET PAPER━ CANNED GOODS AND OTHERITEMS SINCE THE OUTBREAKSTARTED TO SPREAD.

AND MANYSTORES HAVE FOUND ITCHALLENGING TO KEEP UP WITHTHE DEMAND.

SOME NOW LIMITINGTHE QUANTITIES PEOPLE CAN BUYSO THEY CAN RESTOCK THESHELVES.

MEANWHILE━ ASAFEWAY SPOKESPERSON SAYSTHEY'RE NOT ASKING FOR PROOFFROM ANYONE TO ENTER THEIRSTORES BUT THEY ARE ASKING FORSOMETHING ELSE... Voice ofJill McGinnis: "We're servingeveryone that comes to ourstores.

We're just politelyasking our shoppers to help usfor all of our most vulnerableneighbors." WE'VE SEEN A FEWTRUCKS MAKE DELIVERIES HERETHIS MORNING━ BUT NO EARLYSHOPPERS WAITING FOR THE DOORSTO OPEN JUST YET.

LIVE INTOWSON━ MARK ROPER━ WMAR 2NESOCIAL DISTANCING IS BEIENCOURAGED TO HELP FLATTE