Coronavirus: Staples customers required to wear masks

Officials with office supply chain Staples have announced that customers will be required to wear masks in store beginning Monday.

The policy will apply to all employees and customers at the company's more than 1,000 stores nationwide, officials said.

“Today, we are asking our customers to help protect themselves and those around them so that we can continue to provide these essential products and services,” Staples US Retail CEO Mike Motz said Friday in a news release. “Staples will continue to ensure we are in stock on necessary PPE while maintaining a clean and healthy shopping experience, no matter how you choose to shop.”

Staples officials are installing register shields in all of their stores and conducting mandatory wellness checks for employees at the beginning of their shifts in order to help stymie the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The chain joins a growing list of businesses requiring that customers take precautions to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Other businesses that have required face masks for customers include Planet Fitness, Chipotle, McDonald's, Walmart, United Airlines, Home Depot, Lowes and several others.

The United States leads the world with the most coronavirus cases and the highest death toll. Since the start of the pandemic, officials have confirmed more than 4.2 million infections and reported more than 147,000 deaths nationwide, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 16.3 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide and more than 650,000 people have died of the viral infection, according to Johns Hopkins.

Cox Media Group