It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well, wasn’t that what Charles Dickens said during the coronavirus pandemic?

It seems that the cases of coronavirus continuously increase and decrease (and increase and decrease again). After the worst of the cases occurred, cities and states began to reopen. Restaurants were serving meals, salons were cutting hair and gyms were allowing people to work out once more.

We might’ve gotten ahead of ourselves, however, as in some states, cases are on the rise once more. And that means businesses everywhere are getting strict again with their policies about protecting their customers and employees.

That said, two of the biggest retail chains are putting their foot down: Walmart and Sam’s Club will be requiring their customers to wear face coverings at their stores nationwide beginning July 20.

As of now, only some of their stores had the requirement in place, so to reduce confusion and increase consistency, they’re changing their policy to include all of their stores everywhere.

For Walmart specifically, the store will have one designated entrance for shoppers to enter complete with a “Health Ambassador” to monitor people coming into the store to ensure they’re wearing a mask.

Additionally, Walmart has acknowledged that they’re aware some people are unable to wear a mask, and the ambassadors will be trained to handle those exceptions.

Sam’s Club will have a similar process in place, reminding all customers attempting to enter who aren’t wearing masks that they now require them to wear one. If customers don’t have a mask with them, they’ll have complimentary masks to offer as well as ones they can purchase inside.

Do you wear a mask when you’re out and about in public? What do you think of this nationwide protocol across these two large stores?