Don’t be that person: Gloves litter Central Florida grocery store parking lots during coronavirus pandemic

ORLANDO, Fla. — Channel 9 reporters, anchors and viewers have documented a reoccurring sight in local grocery store parking lots in recent weeks: gloves left abandoned littering the pavement.

Shoppers, it seems, are wearing the protective gloves while shopping and then dumping them on the ground on their way out.

As anchor Martha Sugalski tweeted responding to the problem: “Come on people!”

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers instructions on how to remove gloves properly, which includes: “Dispose of the gloves safely. Do not reuse the gloves.”

Officials across the state have also chimed in about the issue, urging people to dispose of the gloves properly so others don’t have to put themselves as risk cleaning up after them.

“I entreat everyone to take your gloves with you. We are a community and we must look out for one another,” Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry posted on social media this week.

“If you wear disposable gloves or masks for protection against COVID-19, you MUST discard them properly. If you toss them on the ground, you risk contaminating someone else,” Delray Beach firefighters wrote in a tweet last week.

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Channel 9 contacted local grocery store chains to see what they have been noticing in their parking lots and how they’re addressing the issue.

Publix director of communications Maria Brous said she had not heard of any reports of gloves being left in store parking lots.

“We are unaware of this issue in our parking lots. We do have garbage receptacles upon entering and departing our stores, so this may be less likely. However, we will monitor,” she said in a statement.

See photos that Channel 9 reporters and anchors have taken in recent weeks below:

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