No known outbreak among store employees
The Abington WalMart is closed Thursday for a deep cleaning, according to the company. It is scheduled to reopen on Friday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve temporarily closed our Abington Walmart Store today, allowing extra time for a third-party specialist to further sanitize each store,” company spokesman Charles Crowson wrote in an email to Abington News. “It will also give our associates additional time to restock shelves and prepare the stores to once again serve the community during this unprecedented time.
“We plan to reopen to all customers at 7 a.m. on Friday, May 1.”
Another WalMart in Worcester was forced to close by the city Wednesday after 23 employees tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. That store is also being cleaned Thursday, but will have to test approxiately 400 store employees before it can reopen.
Abington Health Agent Marty Golightly said he is not aware of a similar outbreak cluster at the Abington store, and that the store is closed merely to be cleaned.
“[The state Department of Public Health] did not alert me to a cluster of positives as is required if the store had that,” he said in an email Thursday. “Our proximity to two of the hot spots, Brockton and Randolph, could have more to do with it than anything.”
Crowson said there is no virus outbreak at the Abington store, and that the closure was pre-planned.
“We had planned earlier this week to temporarily close both the Abington and Worcester stores today for cleaning,” he said. “However, after working with Worcester city leaders, we moved to close that store sooner. The Abington preventative closure continued as planned.”
The Abington store will not have to pass any additional inspections or tests before it reopens on Friday, but it will have to follow the town’s existing social distancing, including required face coverings on all employees and customers over the age of 2.