Walmart toughens travel restrictions

As whole sectors of the economy continue to struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, aggressive measures to protect against COVID-19 are coming to the fore. Walmart has announced it has tightened U.S. travel restrictions for its corporate employees and told its vendors not to visit its offices. What’s happening

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, updated rules it laid out just last week due to the accelerated spread of the virus. U.S. travel “should be extremely limited,” according to a memo distributed Wednesday evening. All inter-office visits that require air travel are restricted, the memo said, and should be limited to essential operations like store visits only. In a separate memo, Walmart told its U.S. suppliers that visits to all its offices are now restricted, and in-person meetings should only happen “if absolutely necessary.”

Other measures

Walmart also suspended the large group meetings it routinely holds in its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas, shifting to virtual meeting technology.

The company also told employees to take precautions around their own personal travel, and said it’s increasing the cleaning of its offices, just as it’s boosting the scrubbing of its U.S. stores. On Tuesday, the retailer instituted an emergency leave policy to help allay employee concerns about the escalating coronavirus outbreak after a store associate tested positive for the illness.

PATRICK T. FALLON/ BLOOMBERG Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is responding to concerns about spread of the coronavirus by curtailing air travel by its employees and other restrictions on suppliers.