A Walmart Supercenter store in Somerset County closed temporarily on Sunday for cleaning due to COVID-19 concerns, making it the third in the chain that has closed for cleaning in the past week.
The Walmart at 100 North Main Street in Manville remained closed on Monday but is expected to reopen on Tuesday, a Walmart spokeswoman said in a statement.
“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,” the spokeswoman said in an email.
“In support of this effort, we have chosen to temporarily close our Manville store location (as of) 2 p.m. Sunday as part of an ongoing company-initiated program,” the spokeswoman said.
“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,” the spokeswoman said.
Walmart has not said if associates working at the store had tested positive for COVID-19, as was the case when a Walmart Supercenter in Linden closed last week.
In Hudson County, a Walmart on Harrison Avenue in Kearny closed Thursday to allow for sanitizing, restocking and to “prepare the store to once again serve the community,” a Walmart spokeswoman said. It was unclear if anyone at the Kearny store had tested positive for COVID-19.
Across New Jersey, COVID-19 cases have soared in the past week. The number of patients in hospitals in New Jersey are up more than 324% since last month and 76% in a week as the highly contagious omicron variant infects people across the state.
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.