At Levittown Walmart, Company Mum On COVID-19 Cases

Walmart is one of the largest employers in Bucks County with a half-dozen stores and among the biggest retailers in the Levittown area, but the company has declined to make public the number of local workers who have fallen ill with COVID-19.

The store in Levittown Town Center off Levittown Parkway in Tullytown Borough has hundreds of employees and serves thousands of customers per week. At anytime during business hours, several dozen workers are on the clock at the store.

According to several employees, the Tullytown store, which has been packed with crowds during the stay-at-home order, has had several workers contract COVID-19. An exact number was unable to be confirmed as of Saturday afternoon.

A Walmart spokesperson said the company has had positive cases at some stores, but declined to release more information on how many workers had COVID-19 and whether there were any at the Levittown location. They pointed LevittownNow.com to local health officials, who have left it up to retailers to confirm cases and release details, which many larger ones have done.

“In the case we do have a confirmed case at any of our stores, we are working with those associates and offering guidance and time needed to receive medical care. Associates have been encouraged to prioritize their health and stay home if feeling sick,” Walmart spokesperson Rebecca Thomason said.

Posts on social media over the past few weeks have mentioned workers with COVID-19 at the Tullytown store and quickly spread.

One store employee, who spoke on the condition their name would not be used due to fear of violating company policy, said they felt Walmart should be upfront with staff and customers.

“People are saying there’s associates who are sick, so I don’t get why they don’t say it,” the worker said. “People need to know that.”

The employee and two others who work at the store all acknowledged the company has put mitigation efforts in place, but they remained concerned for safety due to the numbers of customers who are in the store at any one time.

“They could be doing more,” a company veteran said of safety measures, adding some customers have not practiced common safety measures during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, Walmart has hurried to hire new staff, including locally, according to reports and area employees.

At Walmart stores across the country, employees have raised similar concerns, especially about reporting of cases.

In mid-April, the Wall Street Journal reported 150,000 of Walmart’s 1.5 million American employees were on leave and just under 2,000 had COVID-19. At that time, 18 had died of the virus.

United for Respect, a nonprofit labor rights group, has received complaints and concerns similar to those heard locally from Walmart workers across the country.

This week, the group began tracking cases at Walmart through a user-submitted system.

“The rise of deaths and infections of Walmart associates show clearly that the company is not only failing to keep its associates and customers safe, but also failing to communicate clearly about store conditions. We can’t wait for more half-measures — we’re taking matters into our own hands to get the information we deserve to know,” said Ruby Ann Woolwine, an employee of a Walmart in Michigan who supports the tracking. “The tracker will allow associates to keep each other informed and safe and keep our customers safe too. It’s both a resource for the public and a call for Walmart to prioritize our safety.”

Like many large retailers, Walmart has increased cleaning and sanitizing, conducted health screenings and temperature checks on employees before they begin shifts, required the wearing of masks, placed Plexiglas barriers at checkout lanes, installed floor decals advising the space needed for social distancing, and adjusted hours to allow for restocking and cleaning, the company said.

“While we are leaving public health officials to handle public health issues, we have been working to ensure our stores are cleaned and sanitized regularly.  We are focused on serving our customers during this unprecedented time and we’ve implemented several measures intended to help bring peace of mind,” Thomason told this news organization.

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