BUSINESS

East side Walmart in Farmington closed for sanitizing after employees positive for COVID-19

Joshua Kellogg
Farmington Daily Times

FARMINGTON — The east side Walmart in Farmington is closed and is scheduled to reopen on the morning of Dec. 5, giving cleaning crews time to sanitize and clean the building as multiple employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The Walmart location at 4600 E. Main St. was closed at 2 p.m. on Dec. 3 and is scheduled to reopen at 7 a.m. on Dec. 5, according to a Walmart statement.

Third-party cleaning crews are set to thoroughly clean and sanitize the building while it is closed.

The retailer had four employees listed with positive COVID-19 cases on the Dec. 2 Rapid Response COVID-19 watchlist, according to the New Mexico Environment Department. 

A Walmart employee was at the front doors of the store's Home & Pharmacy section shortly after 2 p.m. on Dec. 3 to let customers know that the facility at 4600 E. Main St. in Farmington was temporarily closed for a deep cleaning.

The east side location had seven positive cases listed on Nov. 29, according to the state environment department.

The closure will give employees time to restock shelves and prepare the store for its Dec. 5 reopening, according to the company’s statement.

The statement did not say if customers with scheduled home deliveries or curbside pickup orders would be affected.

MORE:West side Farmington Walmart remains closed as state puts store on closure list

It was last month when the west side Walmart at 1400 W. Main St. was closed for 15 days, initially by corporate officials then by state officials.

Walmart employees greeted would-be shoppers at the 4600 E. Main St. store in Farmington shortly after 2 p.m. on Dec. 3, 2020 to inform them the store was shut down temporarily for deep cleaning.

The west side location was closed on the afternoon of Nov. 6 by corporate officials. It was scheduled to reopen on the morning of Nov. 8. The state environment department, however, closed the location on Nov. 7 for two weeks, allowing it to reopen on Nov. 21.

The east side location has not been listed as a closure by the state environment department, as of Dec. 2. 

Joshua Kellogg covers breaking news for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com.

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