-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert Tim Flaherty, Hy-Vee Fort Dodge store director, pushes a set of carts through a new sanitizing machine the store added last week. The carts are pushed through the machine, which sprays a sanitizing liquid on all surfaces of the cart that dries in less than a minute.

With community spread of COVID-19 rising in Webster County, one local grocery store is taking extra steps to limit possible points of exposure in its store.

Last week, Hy-Vee installed two Sterile Cart sanitizer machines at each entrance to the store.

“It’s a nice machine that we have sanitizer in and we push the carts through as we bring them back in the store,” explained Store Director Tim Flaherty.

The carts are pushed through the machine, which sprays sanitizer on all surfaces of the cart that dries in about 35 seconds, destroying bacteria and viruses.

“It does help immensely,” Flaherty said. “It’s getting the whole cart, not just the handles. The employees were doing a really good job wiping the carts down, but the sanitizer helps a lot.”

The liquid sanitizer dries without leaving a residue, he added.

The machine can sanitize about three or four carts at a time.