Pennsylvania Weather: COVID-19 Altering How Road Crews, Residents Prep For Winter Storm

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (CBS) -- By this time Wednesday, snow will be falling across most of our region. Road crews are among those bracing for the first blast of winter.

Readying dump trucks in Newtown Square, loads of salt have been lying around since last year. Public Works Director George Sharretts says they're in good shape heading into this mid-week winter storm.

"We have all the salt that we need. We've got the trucks that we're getting ready, we're putting the plows on and making sure that all the salt spreaders are attached and ready to go," Sharretts said. "And the staff are getting rested up now because they'll be here for 24 hours straight tomorrow."

A crew of seven will tend to 60 miles of township roads. They'll stay on the clock until the job is finished.

COVID-19 also means adjustments for how trucks are dispatched.

"Everybody's assigned to a truck and they stay in that truck. So there is no jumping from one truck to another truck. You know, 'I'll take number four, number 14, whatever.' That's your truck, you stay in it so there's no chance of any contamination going from one to the other," Sharretts said.

The pre-storm ritual of rounding up those French toast ingredients was a bit subdued. People like Therese Rose outside the Newtown Square Acme say, 2020 buying habits have left them with some form of a stockpile at home.

"If you don't have to go anywhere, we have nowhere to go, so let it snow," Rose said.

Others seeking out some odds and ends figured it was best to get out ahead of whatever Wednesday into Thursday has in store for us.

"I have what I need at home -- plenty of salt, shovels and a snowblower, so we're ready," one shopper said.

Acme has seen a steady flow of customers throughout the day but there are many available parking spaces, suggesting that the store is nowhere near as crowded as it would normally be in the run-up to a winter storm.

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