PUBLIX: SHOPPERS MUST WEAR MASKS
Lakeland-based grocer, CVS, Target latest to follow Walmart’s mandate
Publix will start requiring shoppers at its more than 1,250 grocery stores to wear masks beginning Tuesday, joining other retailers across the country that have adopted similar policies this week.
The Lakeland-based grocer announced the rule on Thursday, the day after Walmart and Sam’s Club unveiled a similar mandate at more than 5,000 stores. Walmart’s rule will take effect Monday.
CVS also said Thursday that masks would be required in its stores starting Monday, and they will be mandatory at Target beginning Aug. 1. Costco has had a face covering requirement since May.
The Publix rule will be posted on signs at entrances, and there will be in-store announcements about it, according to a news release. Young children and people with medical conditions who can’t wear masks will be exempt from the policy.
Publix recommends that those who can’t wear face coverings consider using delivery or curbside pickup options.
“With the number of coronavirus cases continuing to grow and current CDC guidance indicating face coverings can help slow the spread of
COVID-19, we believe requiring face coverings in our stores is another way we can do our part to help protect our communities,” spokeswoman Maria Brous said in the news release.
Walmart’s decision gave cover to other companies, said Neil Stern, a senior partner at Chicago-based retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle.
Stern said the majority of customers support mandatory mask wearing, but there is a vocal minority against it. He said a company’s top priority should be protecting the safety of staff and customers.
“I feel for Publix,” he said. “No matter what you do, you are not going to satisfy all your customers.”
But having a store policy is the easiest thing to do as it removes the ambiguity of leaving it up to local stores, Stern said.
Walmart and Sam’s Club said in their announcement that about 65% of their stores were in areas where governments had already mandated masks, and their move was meant to help bring consistency across the chains. Target put that figure at more than 80%.
Retailers are taking different approaches to enforcing the requirement. Walmart said 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.
Before Thursday’s announcement, Publix had placed signs in stores and made announcements about local government requirements, such as in Orange County, to wear masks. Employees at Publix have been required to wear them since April 20.
Publix has about 125 stores in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia counties. It has confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that 30 stores in those counties have had employees test positive for the virus throughout the course of the pandemic.
Target, which will also exempt people with medical conditions and young children, will provide disposable masks to customers without them, add signs and audio announcements and have employees at store entrances to remind customers of the rule.
CVS said it has used signs and other reminders to inform shoppers of government mandates to wear masks.
“To be clear, we’re not asking our store employees to play the role of enforcer,” CVS Health chief operating officer Jon Roberts said in an online statement. “What we are asking is that customers help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and heeding the call to wear a face covering.”