About 65% of Walmart’s more than 5,000 stores, including Sam’s Club locations, are in areas where there is a government mandate to cover their faces.
“To help provide consistency across stores and clubs, we will require all shoppers to wear a face covering beginning Monday, July 20,” said Walmart’s chief operating officer, Dacona Smith, and COO of Sam’s Club, Lance De La Rosa, in a past blog post. week. “This will give us time to inform customers and members of the changes, post posters, and train associates on the new protocols.”
Although there is no federal mandate to wear a mask, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says everyone “should wear a cloth face covering when they have to go out in public.” The CDC said that “the face covers are meant to protect other people.”
Walmart said it will enforce the new policy by parking “health ambassadors” near the entrance to remind shoppers of the requirement.
Other national chains have made similar moves to Walmart. Kroger and Kohl’s announced that they would begin to require all customers to wear masks, indicating that more retailers are lining up behind mandates to wear masks. The National Retail Federation, the main lobbying group for the industry, also asked retailers to require masks for customers.
Most major retailers and grocery stores initially hesitated to enact their own masks mandates for customers during the pandemic, in part for fear of antagonizing shoppers who refuse to use them. Retailers have said they are reluctant to put their employees in a position to enforce mask requirements.
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