Have you been to the grocery store recently? If you have, most likely it was bedlam.

As panic-buying and hoarding sweep both the US and the UK, supermarket employees have been subjected to verbal and physical abuse from customers, all while trying to keep the shelves stocked and the supplies moving so that everyone can be prepared for coronavirus related self-isolation or quarantine.

Here at Stylist, we are so grateful for the work that supermarket employees are doing in their communities. It’s why we penned an open letter to every single one of them and their tireless work yesterday. And it’s why we’re applauding the news out of the US that two states have reclassified grocery store employees as “emergency workers” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Supermarket employees in Minnesota and Vermont just got classed as coronavirus ‘emergency workers’