WALMART WORKERS reminding shoppers to mask up.

Walmart Inc. is stationing employees at the front of stores to remind customers to wear face coverings where required by state and local laws in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The new “health ambassadors” started work in many stores on Thursday. The Bentonville retailer said that it expects to expand the positions to more stores wherever mask-wearing mandates are enacted.

With new cases of the coronavirus soaring in the U.S., 21 states as of Saturday now require people to wear masks in public. Three other states have less stringent policies. Elsewhere, cities and counties are enacting their own mask ordinances.

On Friday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order that requires “any business that is open to the public to refuse entry or service to people who refuse to wear a face covering, with limited exceptions.”

The Grand Rapids Pioneer reported Friday that a Walmart health ambassador was already at work at a supercenter, informing customers of the order that was to take effect Monday. “We will be turning customers away without masks,” the employee told the newspaper.

However, Walmart has said it will make exceptions for customers unable to wear masks because of a health condition and will not press them for details.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend wearing face coverings in public settings where maintaining social distancing is difficult. Numerous studies have shown the masks greatly reduce

transmission of the virus.

But because the mask mandates have become a hot-button, politicized issue, some customers at businesses such as stores and restaurants around the country have become belligerent and even violent when asked to wear one.

Two incidents last month recorded on cellphones and posted on social media showed angry customers confronting Walmart employees who asked them to put on a face covering on entering the store. These occurred in counties in Florida and California that had recently passed mask-wearing ordinances.

Walmart has required employees at all its stores, clubs and warehouses to wear masks or coverings since April 20. Store and club customers are encouraged to wear them also, but not required to except where mandated by state or local governments.

“Our covid-19 protocols have continued to adapt during the pandemic in response to evolving research and mandates spanning the country,” a Walmart spokesman said Monday in an emailed statement. “Additional safety changes are taking effect to expand our efforts in reminding customers of the importance and necessity of wearing face coverings in our stores.”

To prepare store employees to handle unruly customers, they receive training in deescalation techniques

and other safety measures, Walmart spokesman Casey Staheli said previously. Store managers also work with law enforcement agencies regarding how best to work with them in those situations.

In addition, Walmart has asked its contracted security guards at some stores to help out if needed.

Walmart has more than 5,300 stores and membersonly warehouse clubs across the U.S.