Some Wichita businesses post signs that they’re practicing pandemic precautions

Safety-seal signs have started to appear at the entryways of some Wichita businesses, indicating they require employees and patrons to wear masks and practice other COVID-19 precautions.

The “Safety Seal” is an initiative started by Shop Safe Wichita, which was officially launched two months ago by Ideal Feet owner Dawn Keene. The seal is available for a fee and a pledge to six things: follow local health order and Center for Disease Control and Prevention cleaning guidelines, ask employees and customers to wear a face covering, practice social distancing, use contactless payment when possible and provide COVID-19 awareness training for employees.

”We want consumers to be able to identify that seal and identify that these are all local businesses that are pledging to keep our community safe,” she said. “And that is going to be important. COVID is not going to go away any time soon.”

In Kansas, nearly 307,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19, almost 10,000 have been hospitalized and deaths are closing in on 5,000, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The only COVID-19 precautions in Kansas and Sedgwick County are for quarantining after travel and/or COVID-19 exposure.

Keene, seeing the much more expensive requirements under the WELL Health-Safety seal, wanted to come up with an affordable way for small businesses to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19. The $25 fee every three months helps offset costs for maintaining a website, which lists state and local COVID restrictions as well as COVID precautions recommended by health officials.

Ten businesses have joined on so far. Shop Safe Wichita also partnered with Wichita Independent Business Association to try and bring other businesses on board, she said.

“To us, it’s very important to be able to maintain our business and keep our doors open and keep the COVID levels down in our communities,” she said. “Our goal is not to anger anybody; our goal is to make sure we are keeping people safe.”

A kickoff event about the safety seal will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Strategic Workspace and Event Center, 5025 E. Kellogg. More information about the initiative is available at shopsafewichita.com.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 2:56 PM.