‘Every Day Is Frightening’: Working For Walmart Amid Covid-19 Outbreak
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From the moment workers at America’s largest grocery store found out about the coronavirus outbreak at a plant in Wuhan, China, the staff have felt a mixture of anxiety and anxiety.
“It’s just very scary,” said an employee who asked not to be named because she feared losing her job. “I never knew there would be such a huge spread like this, and to some degree we’re all a bit fearful.”
But the worker also said she never thought she’d be at the center of it. On March 12, when Wuhan Mayor Shi Tao offered her and other employees a leave of absence to fight the virus, she accepted.
“We were all in tears,” she said.
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Her departure comes as Walmart has confirmed that about 100 staffers were sent home from the Sam’s Club stores in northern Pennsylvania and Maryland. But the CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday that only four employees have tested positive for Covid-19 and that they had all been in close contact with others. He said there should be no worries about contagion spreading to the company’s other locations.
Sam’s Club employees say they’ve been feeling anxious since the outbreak but are thankful for the company’s response, which they say is the first thing to go into lockdown mode.
“We’re not looking for a handout,” said one employee, who like many of the others didn’t want to give her name because she feared losing her job.
“I’ll survive. I’m not giving it up,” she said. “I don’t have anything to worry about.”
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The employee also said it’s been