A Walmart Inc. warehouse in Bethlehem, Pa., is closed until Monday for disinfecting after a ninth worker at the facility was diagnosed with the covid-19 virus.
According to a newspaper based in nearby Allentown, employees were told Wednesday night of the number of confirmed cases, which had risen from earlier in the week.
The company said in a statement to The Morning Call that it had confirmed cases there but didn't have specific numbers available.
The 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse is one of the Bentonville-based retailer's e-commerce fulfillment centers, which fills and ships online orders. Walmart said nearly 1,800 people work in the facility, and all who were scheduled to work during the shutdown will be paid for missed shifts.
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Walmart said Tuesday it's starting a companywide screening procedure for all U.S. hourly employees. Workers will have their temperatures taken as they show up for their shifts, and will be asked "basic health screening questions," company executives said in a blog post.
Infrared thermometers are being sent to all Walmart's U.S. locations, which could take up to three weeks. Employees with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be paid for reporting to work and asked to go home and seek medical treatment if necessary. They can return to work when they've been fever-free for at least three days.
The company also will provide masks and gloves, as supplies permit, for employees who want them. The masks will arrive in a week or two, the company said. They will be high-quality, though not the N95 respirators reserved for at-risk health care workers.
Walmart implemented a covid-19 emergency leave policy for hourly employees on March 10 after a worker at a Kentucky Supercenter was diagnosed with the virus. The retailer has about 1.5 million U.S. employees.
Dan Bartlett, Walmart's executive vice president of corporate affairs, said in a media call Tuesday that employees and customers had been asking for masks and gloves to be made available to workers.
Bartlett said an employee at each location will be designated to take workers' temperatures. The retailer is starting the new measure at its distribution centers and in hot spots for the virus, such as New York City and Louisiana.
E-commerce giant Amazon.com said Thursday that it began checking employees' temperatures on Sunday. The company has had confirmed cases of the coronavirus at more than a dozen facilities, prompting walkouts at several sites this week by workers who say Amazon isn't doing enough to keep them safe.
A day after Walmart's announcement, home improvement chain Home Depot said it's sending thermometers to employees who work in its stores and distribution centers so they can check their temperatures before reporting to work.
Business on 04/04/2020