It adopted a policy two years ago at the start of the coronavirus pandemic of closing stores for fewer than two days to “get ahead” of potential outbreaks.

“We’ve been closely monitoring our stores across the country, making the decision to temporarily close locations on a store-by-store basis through a collection of market-related data,” the Walmart spokesperson said, declining to confirm that there were staff Covid-19 cases at the closed locations.

The world’s biggest retailer also did not comment on whether it was seeing an increase in workers testing positive for Covid-19.

The United States has seen a spike in cases of the Omicron variant, leading retailers and restaurant chains to temporarily shutter stores and limit access to customers.
One Laurel, Maryland, Walmart facility was closed last week because that community was experiencing coronavirus cases, according to a memo shown to Reuters by two Walmart workers. They said several people at the store had contracted Covid-19, which Walmart declined to confirm.

If Covid-related store closures disrupt Walmart’s operations into late January, they could begin to worry some investors, said John AugustinePrivateTarget

Walmart rival Target told Reuters it had not closed any Target stores for sanitization or other Covid-related reasons since the start of December. CVS said it had temporarily closed “fewer than 10 locations” for “enhanced cleaning” in that period.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that retailers “close off areas used by the person who is sick and do not use those areas until after cleaning and disinfecting”. The CDC does not strictly recommend shutting stores.