Collected Item: “One Way Only Signs in Texas Stores”
Give your story a title.
One Way Only Signs in Texas Stores
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Photographs taken on a smartphone
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
These are pictures of one-way-only signs posted in a Texas Walmart on May 28th and June 11 2020. Many stores such as HEB, Target, and Sam's Club also had similar signs in there stores. The purpose of these signs was to encourage the public to walk in only one direction on each aisle of the store. Stores created an elaborate zig zag pattern using this method. At the time, it was thought that the risk of contracting COVID could be minimized by keeping people from congregating in the same space such as going in and out of the same aisle entrance. Some peopled followed the signs, but it was not a state law so others did not. These photos are important because they show the great extent stores took to try and minimize the spread of COVID. Stores were very concerned about projecting the image of a safe shopping experience in their stores. However, they also hint at the legalistic bent many COVID precautions were beginning to take on. Another implied effect of this arrangement was that by encouraging all people to go in the same direction, stores increased the risk that their customers might catch COVID-19 as everyone was to follow the exact path the person in front of them had. This was the type of situation these signs were supposed to prevent.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#ASU, #HST494, #CoronaCulture, #Texas, #CoronaStores.
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Kayla Nicole Phillips
Give this story a date.
2020-05-28