Fleming Island Walmart temporarily closing for deep cleaning

This isn’t the first time the company has closed a store in our area. Earlier this month, a Southside Walmart closed while a third-party cleaning crew deep cleaned and sanitized the store. In July, a store on Normandy Blvd. also closed.

[ RELATED: Walmart closes Southside store for deep cleaning ]

Walmart issued the following statement:

As an essential business and a member of the Orange Park, FL community, we understand the role we play in providing our customers with food, medicine and other essential items, especially at this time.

As you know, several areas across the country have begun seeing a renewed increase in positive COVID-19 cases, and we want to assist health officials working against the pandemic. In support of this effort, we have chosen to temporarily close our Orange Park, FL location at 1505 County Road 220 today at 2 p.m. as part of a company-initiated program. This will allow extra time for a third-party specialist to further sanitize the store and will also give our associates additional time to restock shelves and prepare the store to once again serve the community. We plan to reopen the store to customers at 6 a.m. on Sept. 2.

Everything we’re doing is for the well-being of our associates and the thousands of customers we serve daily, and in consideration of guidance by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and health experts. Given the rise in positive cases through the Delta variant, we will follow CDC guidance, which includes fully vaccinated people wearing masks in public indoor settings in counties with substantial or high transmission.

In these counties and where there are state or local mask mandates, associates will be required to wear masks inside our facilities, including stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers. You can find the county-by-county breakdown here. The CDC updates its data on transmission rates weekly, so the guidance on mask usage is likely to change over time in different locations.

When the store reopens Thursday, we will continue conducting associate health assessments, and all unvaccinated associates must still wear face coverings.

In addition to offering COVID-19 vaccines to customers through walk-in or online appointments, we’re also offering easy access to vaccines for associates. Associates can receive their vaccinations at their home store pharmacy, on or off the clock.

Should associates choose to schedule their vaccinations elsewhere, we will provide two hours of paid leave. Associates who receive the vaccine are given a $150 bonus for doing so and up to three days paid leave, should they experience an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

These protocols and convenient access to vaccinations are in addition to the extensive measures we’ve put in place during the pandemic to help protect our associates and customers. We will continue working closely with elected and local health officials, adjusting how we serve the community while also keeping the health and safety of our customers and associates in mind.

[ Walmart on Normandy Blvd. temporarily closing for cleaning as COVID-19 cases rise ]

Walmart is empowering people with increased access to their health data through a free, secure digital wallet that they own and decide whether to use to share their health information, starting with the COVID-19 vaccine record. The offering provides individuals with an opportunity to securely store their COVID-19 vaccine record in their pharmacy account on Walmart.com or Samsclub.com. The vaccine record can be printed, shared, or saved on a device.

The vaccine record is a free digital version of the vaccine cards issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including a person’s name, date of birth, date of vaccination, vaccine manufacturer, vaccine lot number, and location where they received their immunization.

To learn more, please visit Walmart.com/digitalvaccinerecord or SamsClub.com/VaxRecord.