Walmart customers must start wearing masks
Publix, Winn-Dixie do not have similar companywide rules
Walmart and Sam’s Club will require customers to wear a face mask in their stores starting Monday to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.
The stores follow Costco in imposing a mask mandate for shoppers, but Lakeland-based Publix as well as Winn-Dixie’s Jacksonville parent company do not have similar companywide rules.
Walmart stores will have a single entrance where an employee with a new title of Health Ambassador will work with people who show up without masks, according to a news release from Walmart U.S. chief operating officer Dacona Smith and Sam’s Club chief operating officer Lance de la Rosa.
Sam’s Club will provide members complimentary masks if they don’t have one, and they will also be available for purchase there.
“We know it may not be possible for everyone to wear a face covering,” the news release said. “Our associates will be trained on those exceptions to help reduce friction for the shopper and make the process as easy as possible for everyone.”
About 65% of more than 5,000 stores are in areas where governments already mandate masks, and Wednesday’s move is meant to help bring consistency across the chains, according to the release.
“While we’re certainly not the first business to require face coverings, we know this is a simple step everyone can take for their safety and the safety of others in our facilities,” the release said.
Walmart employees have been required to wear masks for months and also are subject to temperature checks as they report to work. The company has not been confirming to the news media if employees at certain stores test positive for coronavirus, citing privacy concerns.
The Walmart at 8108 S. John Young Parkway was temporarily closed last month for it to be sanitized.
Publix, meanwhile, has placed signs in stores where local governments such as Orange County require people to wear masks. Employees have been required to wear masks since April 20 in its more than 1,250 stores across the Southeast.
“Additionally, customers are reminded to wear face coverings through regular in-store an
nouncements and direct conversation with our managers,” spokeswoman Maria Brous said. “We’ll gladly provide a face covering to any customer who may not have one.”
Brous added there were no additional changes at this time.
Publix has confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel 30 stores in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia counties have had employees test positive for the virus throughout the pandemic. The grocery store chain has about 125 stores in those counties.
Southeastern Grocers, parent company of WinnDixie and Fresco y Más, does not have a policy for customers, spokesman Joe Caldwell said. There are about 20 Winn-Dixie stores within a 25-mile radius of Orlando, not including liquor stores, and there is a Fresco y Más on Curry Ford Road.
“We do have associates stationed at the front of stores, complemented by signage, reminding our customers of the local mandate requiring they have a face covering,” Caldwell said.
Costco’s requirement for shoppers to cover their mouths and noses took effect in May, adding to a requirement that employees wear masks. People unable to wear one for medical reasons and children younger than 2 are exempt from the warehouse club’s policy.
The business has 788 locations, with 548 in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to a financial release earlier this month. There are three stores in the Orlando area.
“We know some members may find this inconvenient or objectionable, but under the circumstances we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience,” Costco CEO Craig Jelinek wrote in a website post. “This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others, too.”
The Fresh Market, with 159 stores including five in the Orlando area, mandated employees wear masks on April 10 and since April 14 has “strongly requested” customers wear a face covering, spokeswoman Meghan Flynn said.
The company has not stopped customers from coming into the store without a mask because it does not want to put employees in a “confrontational situation that could result in unintended consequences during an already trying time for many,” Flynn said.