Walmart temporarily shut nearly 60 U.S. stores for COVID cleaning in December
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The Walmart (WMT) stores - in locations including
The company made no comment on the potential impact of the closures.
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 (WMT) 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 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. Rising COVID-19 cases led Apple Inc (AAPL) to limit service at some
It was not immediately clear why the stores were shut and Apple (AAPL) did not respond to a request for comment. Apple (AAPL) gets about 5% of its total sales from its retail locations, according to Wedbush analyst
(Reporting by