48-year-old Phillip Thomas died due to complications of COVID-19. He was one of two Evergreen Park Walmart employees who died from the coronavirus.

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- We're seeing more and more efforts to protect people from COVID-19, but the number of confirmed cases is still growing.Friday night, the number of cases in Illinois jumped to more than 9,000, according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, and 210 people have died from the virus statewide.Two of the most recent casualties includes two Walmart employees who worked at the same store at 95th and Western in Evergreen Park.Starting Saturday, Walmart is taking new action to protect customers and employees who are still reporting to work. One of those new measures includes limiting the number of shoppers in stores.Walmart said neither of these employees had been at the store for at least a week and the company said no issues were reported after a health department inspection.The two men were identified as 51-year-old Wando Evans and 48-year-old Phillip Thomas.According to the Cook County Medical Examiner, both men died from COVID-19 infection, as well as pneumonia. They both also had an underlying health condition listed as a contributing factor.Walmart said it has since installed social distancing signage and is bringing in an outside company for additional cleaning and sanitizing.