Walmart plans to temporarily close a store in Mobile to disinfect and restock following COVID-19 cases among staff there.
The Walmart on 5245 Rangeline Service Road S will close at 4 p.m. Saturday and reopen at 7 a.m. Monday.
“We understand the role we play in providing our customers with food, medicine and other essential items during this time. We also understand (Mobile) has been hit especially hard by COVID-19,” Walmart spokesman Phillip Keene said in a press release.
“We are not able to provide information about those impacted for privacy reasons,” he added.
Keene said it is impossible to know how anyone at the store would have contracted the virus. He said Walmart is taking social distancing measures such as providing face masks and gloves to employees, erecting plexiglass shields at registers and creating one-way shopping aisles.
“Everything we’re doing is for the well-being of our associates and customers, and in consideration of guidance by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and health experts. When the store reopens on Monday, we will continue to conduct associate health screens and temperature checks, and all associates will be provided with facemasks and gloves,” he said.
Mobile County had 8,466 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.