Walmart will start checking worker temps, providing masks and gloves

Walmart will begin checking workers’ temperatures and providing them with gloves and masks, the retail giant announced Tuesday, stepping up its safety protocols as it hires roughly 5,000 employees a day to meet heightened demand during the coronavirus crisis.

To protect against spread of the novel coronavirus, Walmart is shipping infrared thermometers to all its stores so employees can have their temperatures checked when they report for work, the company announced in a blog post. The thermometers should arrive in three weeks. “Any associate with a temperature of 100.0 degrees will be paid for reporting to work and asked to return home and seek medical treatment if necessary,” the blog post said. “The associate will not be able to return to work until they are fever-free for at least three days.

Walmart will also make gloves and masks available to employees who want them, but said the masks will “be high-quality masks, but not N95 respirators — which should be reserved for at-risk health care workers.” The masks will arrive in one to two weeks, but they will not be required for workers.

Although most of Walmart’s stores have stayed open amid the pandemic, the retail giant has cut its hours and reduced or suspended some services to give employees more time to stock and sanitize. The company has also taken steps to make its shopping experience more social-distancing friendly: It put up in-store reminders to stay 6 feet apart, enacted no-touch shopping procedures and installed sneeze and cough guards at registers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/31/walmart-hiring-temperatures-masks/