March 19, 2020
Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, April 24, 2020, retail services that are not “essential services,” but that may be provided through pickup, delivery by mail, or delivery to the customer’s doorstep in strict compliance with the terms required by DSHS. The full DSHS requirements may be found at www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus.
Customers will be able to go to stores to pick up things they’re buying – but they can’t go inside. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services laid out rules to make sure it’s done safely, including:
Payments should be made over the phone to avoid contact
Items should be delivered to the customers’ backseat or trunk
Workers must wash and sanitize their hands after each interaction with a customer and disinfect items that any customers touch
Workers will also need to be trained on cleaning and disinfecting and will be required to stay six feet away from their coworkers and be screened before starting their shifts – including a temperature check.
Additionally, stores can still deliver right to customers’ doorstep or send items through the mail.
Such additional services as may be enumerated by future executive orders or proclamations by the governor. In providing or obtaining essential services or reopened services, people and businesses should follow the Guidelines from the President and the CDC by practicing good hygiene, environmental cleanliness, and sanitation, implementing social distancing, and working from home if possible.
In accordance with the Guidelines from the President and the CDC, people shall avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts, or visiting gyms, massage establishments, tattoo studios, piercing studios, or cosmetology salons; provided, however, that the use of drive-thru, pickup, or delivery options for food and drinks is allowed and highly encouraged throughout the limited duration of this executive order.
Click here to read full order.