COVID-19 RAPID RESPONSE: DEVELOPING THE TECHNOLOGY OF PANDEMIC RESPONSES FOR GARDEN CENTERS AND NURSERIES

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The COVID-19 pandemicis a threat to human life, human health, social stability and economic growth. Independent garden centers are part of the supply chain of the green industry;they are the go-to place for novice as well as experienced gardeners. Disruption of these garden centers would cause detrimental injuries to the supply chain of live plants, and health of gardening communities large and small. During the 2020 Spring COVID-19 pandemic, nursery and garden centers were open as essential businesses. A large number of independent garden centers have altered day-to-day store operations. Large garden centers/nurseries in many urban areas changed to online and phone orders for curbside pick-up or home delivery, or they used a combination of in-person and online/phone services. In small rural towns, many garden centers are small family-run operations that do not have the resources for online sales and local customers are used to on-site shopping, making them very vulnerable to the spread of the virus. As the country reopens, proactive measures need to be developed to ensure these businesses operate "Safely and Stably" during and post-pandemic times.This project aims to capitalize on all the resources at TSU and biotech business partners, to provide a workable system that will protect these garden centers from potential COVID-19 threats and provide a safe shopping place and experience for customers. The project is divided into two phases. Phase I focuses on the following objectives: 1) Use diagnostic testing to ensure the safety of the employees and business sites; 2) Design automatic infrared temperature stations customized to the outdoor settings of garden centers to protect the business sites from unintended entry of contagions; 3) Implement Best Management Practices to ensure the business is in compliance with guidelines from respective government agencies. Phase II focuses on extension activities involving development of the technology-enhanced (VR/360° video) education packages for dissemination in academia settings, extension, and business end-users; and promoting adoption of all the safety measures across TN and nationwide.Four nursery and garden centers will participate to develop modules for mitigation of COVID-19 that are suitable for large or small-sized operation styles. EPD and Assured Bio labs will join forces with TSU faculty to conduct molecular and antibody testing to ensure employees and environments in the garden centers are free of the virus. Assured Bio labs will offer testing for surfaces (swab for touchpoints) and air (M-TRAP grab samples and continuous monitoring) for indoor spaces in garden centers. EDP Biotech will conduct COVID-19 antibody testing for project participants.The first telltale symptom of COVID-19 is mild to strong fever, therefore screening the temperature of clients is considered as the first line of defense against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Current commercial modules of Automatic Thermal Scanner Systems are built for indoor settings, with limited absolute accuracy when used underunstable temperature condition. Therefore, calibration is necessary to improve its accuracy to the desirable 0.1 Celsius for detecting humans with fever symptoms. In this project, we will reconstruct automatic temperature stations suitable for outdoor settings in garden centers. We will use a constant temperature calibration rod, which provides known background reference, to allow automated calibration in the thermal imaging system to provide improved accuracy in a fast-changing environmental background of the outdoor scenario.The solar panel together with a lithium ion battery-powered solar generator will provide the electric power for the thermal imaging station, the constant-temperature calibration rod, and the processing and communication units. The thermal imaging station has both optical and infrared imaging systems looking at the same region. Artificial intelligence-powered facial detection using optical imaging identifies the regions of human faces. The corresponding region in thermal imaging is then used to measure the temperature of the person. The processing unit will store both optical and thermal images of detected persons. If a person is found to have higher than normal temperature, a warning message will be sent to the control center for further action. In addition to the function of precisely measuring temperatures of targets, the thermal imaging system to be constructed is powered by solar panel driven batteries so it can be installed anywhere on the business premises. Based on the layouts and size of the four participating businesses, the system will be installed at an appropriate position selected by the business owners. In principle, customers will go through the temperature screening before shopping in the garden center. Customers 'Passed' will proceed to the shopping area. Those who could not pass will be directed to a separate area the store associates will help them to pick their items and check out.The project will help the garden centers to adopt more easily manageable layouts based on the risk level in different areas of the business site. Garden centers will be reorganized into different zones based on the functions. Zone 1: Entrance. At the entrance, signs will be displayed with instructions for social distancing. Arrow signs will be installed to direct customers to park vehicles and take body temperature. Only customers with PASSED readings are allowed to enter Zone 2. Zone 2:Merchandise displays will be grouped according to Area for plants on racks/benches; Area for container plants laid on ground; Area for inground plants; Area for indoor plants/greenhouse plants. These different areas will be structure for social distancing strategies based on the volume of traffic and feasibility. Labels of the plants provide extensive instructions about the plants. The business will provide free Internet access to all customers. Customers can utilize these resources to select plants with minimal interaction with store associates. Zone 3:Checkout area. Employees and customers will strictly follow CDC guidelines for sanitation and social distancing. This area (counter surface swabs, AC ducks) will be tested more regularly for COVID-19 during busy seasons.Surveys will be conducted from customers and store staff to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of theCOVID-19 response modules. Data will be discussed with project advisory committee to make necessary changes. Modules that will work best for each individual business will be delivered to stakeholders.In Phase II, successful procedures from the garden center operation modules developed in Phase I will be extended to small businesses in TN and nationwide through the use of extension capacity for agent workshops and immersive learning. TSU extension faculty, agents and pre-service Extension educators will co-develop Immersive Reusable Learning Packages (IRLPs) to demonstrate best practices for pandemic response mitigation; create a clearinghouse of best practices research and VR/360° video IRLPs to prepare ag-related essential business operators for pandemic response mitigation; disseminate findings and resources through on-ground and web-based dissemination of VR/360° IRLPs at various Extension and ag-related essential business operators conferences; evaluate program success through social and behavioral research among consumers and industry regarding adoption of the best management practices for pandemic response mitigation RLPs.The COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous economic loss in the US and worldwide, and will remainso until appropriate treatments/vaccination are developed. Products from this project will increase the resilience of small business.The mitigation strategies to be developed in this project can be integrated into various agricultural production and marketing systems.