Walmart said Tuesday that it will begin temperature checks for all employees before they start their shifts.

The world’s largest retailer is also making masks and gloves available for employees who want to wear them. The measures come as grocery workers increasingly become worried about being at the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Retail workers are being asked to do heroic work to keep America fed,” Dan Bartlett, Walmart executive vice president, said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “The strain put on retail is not normal.”

Walmart is also considering one-way aisles to promote social distancing among customers and said it has started that in the U.K. and Canada. There are no plans to begin checking temperatures of customers, Bartlett said, adding, “that would require clear guidelines from the government.”

Bartlett declined to say how many employees have tested positive in recent weeks, citing privacy issues that come into play when collecting that information. But he added that local health departments know.

Grocery stores and pharmacies are required to stay open when local and state officials declare shelter-in-place orders. On Monday, some employees of an Amazon fulfillment center in New York walked out after an employee tested positive. Instacart employees have also become vocal about their safety as they fill online grocery orders.

At Walmart, the additional steps come as the retailer has shortened store hours to allow for a deeper cleaning of stores overnight, hired more people, offered coronavirus leave policy and started adding sneeze guards at checkouts. Walmart has hired 50,000 new workers since March 19, when it made its announcement.

In addition to taking employees’ temperatures, Walmart said it will ask some basic health screening questions.

The company is in the process of sending infrared thermometers to all of its locations, which it says could take up to three weeks to reach the 5,355 Walmart, Neighborhood Market and Sam’s Clubs in the U.S. The retailer employs 1.4 million people.

Masks and gloves will arrive in one to two weeks, Walmart said. The company said it will make masks and gloves available “as supplies permit” for employees who want to wear them.

Bartlett said stores and distribution centers in states with more coronavirus hot spots will get thermometers first.

An employee with a temperature of 100 degrees will be sent home and will be paid for reporting to work, then asked to seek medical treatment if necessary. The employee can’t return to work until he or she is fever-free at least three days, Walmart said.

Walmart said many employees have already been taking their temperatures at home. It’s also asking them to watch for other symptoms of the virus such as coughing, feeling achy and difficulty breathing, and not to come to work if they don’t feel well.

Bartlett stressed that masks and gloves are voluntary and said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines still don’t recommend them for the general public.

To keep employees in masks, Walmart needs 7 million a week. The program wasn’t put in place sooner, he said, because masks can create “a false sense of security." Social distancing and hand washing are recommended instead, he said. Also, Walmart wanted to be sure it could access a supply of masks without competing with the needs of health care workers, he said.

A blog post Tuesday announcing the new steps by Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner and the CEO of Sam’s Club said employees are also being asked to remember the numbers 6, 20 and 100 — 6 feet of space between others; take 20 seconds to wash hands with soap and water; and a temperature of 100 degrees means stay home.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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