Roosevelt Island Saturday Farmers Market Returns Today To Good Shepherd Plaza, Some Customers Observe Social Distancing But Others Do Not - Last Day Of Food Scrap Drop Collection Until Further Notice Due To Coronavirus Emergency

The Roosevelt Island Saturday Farmers Market returned today to it's spring location in the open area of the Good Shepherd Plaza under very different circumstances than past years - the Coronavirus health emergency.

At 9:30 this morning, the Farmers Market was not as crowded as it would be on a normal pre-Coronavirus Saturday, but still busy with residents happy the Market was open. I was pleased to see that customers were maintaining their social distance waiting on the cashiers line.

Roosevelt island Saturday Farmers Market. Busy and people maintaining social distance waiting on line. Good job pic.twitter.com/f8dLcpeCBz

— Roosevelt Islander (@Rooseveltisland) March 21, 2020

I’d decided to be overly cautious and not go but your tweet changed my mind so I put on my mask grabbed my Schitts Creek tote and went. For the most part people were mindful of social distancing but of course there were a few🙄 The Market workers were great! Glad I went. 👍🏾

— NamelyNorm (@NamelyNorm) March 21, 2020

But another resident, Janet Falk, reports differently:

My husband returned from the Farmer’s Market at 10:30 am with these observations :

People over age 60 not wearing masks

People not wearing gloves while handling (and replacing) multiple pieces of fruit

People coughing without muffling the spread of droplets by covering their moths with their elbows

People clustering without letting others keep a safe distance

Please remind our neighbors that practicing Social Distance” means EVERYONE in EVERY public space.

Report from local farmer's market: People > 60 w/o masks; handling & replacing multiple pieces of fruit w/o gloves; clustering w/o Social Distance; coughing w/o muffling w/ elbow. Smokey the Bear would say "Only YOU Can Prevent the Spread of COVID-19." #Covid_19 #SocialDistance pic.twitter.com/wtvhT7aEzc

— Janet L. Falk (@JanetLFalk) March 21, 2020

Also, today was the last day of the Grow NYC Food Scrap Drop Off Collection at the Farmers Market

which was suspended by NYC Sanitation Department until further notice due to the Coronavirus.