LAS CRUCES – A Las Cruces Walmart reopened Sunday – a day after the New Mexico Environment Department issued a notice of imminent and substantial endangerment because four employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The state posted the notice at the entrance of the Walmart, 3331 Rinconada Blvd, and told management the store needed to close immediately and to have other employees there tested.
After the store closed, third-party cleaning experts arrived to “further clean and sanitize the store,” stated Tiffany Wilson, Walmart director of communications, in an email to the Sun-News.
The store reopened Sunday morning.
Walmart disputed statements by NMED that the store did not require self-quarantine for employees who tested positive and since provided hard copies of company policies that follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New Mexico protocols.
NMED told the Sun-News that the store reopened Sunday using staff from other locations.
“Our associates are under quarantine and receiving paid leave through our COVID-19 emergency leave policy,” Wilson wrote. “The New Mexico Environment Department advised us to temporarily close our store and we did so under their guidance …. We will continue to work closely with the New Mexico Environment Department during a time our customers are relying on us for food, medicine and other essential needs.”
