Precautions from Walmart
Such precautions are necessary to make sure that it does not exceed the capacity limit, as coronavirus cases are skyrocketing at record speed across the country.
Starting in April, Walmart limits the number of people in its big box stores to no more than five customers for every 1,000 square feet, or about 20 percent of the shop's capacity. These levels can also vary depending on local mandates, the company said.
For a while, however, the largest U.S. retailer stopped counting people physically when they came in and out of a shop.
The CEO of Walmart Doug McMilon said: "We know from the measurements in our shops over a few months that in the vast majority of cases our shops did not reach the 20% capacity we had set, but out of an excess of caution we resumed counting the number of people entering and leaving our shops".
This step is taking place as America continues to promote new Covid records. More than 68,500 people have been hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country, more than anywhere else during the pandemic, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a project run by journalists in the Atlantic.
And the number of cases continues to rise.Over the past week, an average of over 139,900 cases per day have been reported in the US, more than 35 per cent more than a week ago.
Large grocery chains have now begun to restore limits on certain items, such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
Kroger and Florida's Publix Super Markets re-established limits on bath towels and napkins earlier this month.
Giant Food, an American supermarket chain, has again restricted purchases of toilet paper and paper towels.
Wegmans has placed restrictions on the purchase of paper towels, household cleaners and disinfectant wipes.
Retailers and grocery shops now have to navigate the pandemic during the holiday season, which tends to attract more people to shops to buy gifts and ingredients for family dinners.
In an effort to spread the holiday visits to customers, Walmart said that there will still be Black Friday sales in the shop, but the company is splitting them into three different sales activities.
