People walk by a Walgreens store in Manhattan, New York City, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. on November 26, 2021. Jan 14 Reuters -- U.S. drugstore chain operators Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA.O and CVS Health Corp CVS said on Friday they had to temporarily shut down some stores due to staffing issues triggered by the latest surge in COVID 19 infections.
CVS said store closings on one or both days of the weekend are temporary and are in response to the fast-spreading Omicron coronaviruses variant and a nationwide staffing shortage.
CVS said that the adjusted operating hours in these stores are temporary.
U.S. department stores and drugstore chains, including Walmart WMT.N and Macy's Inc M.N, have had to shut down or cut working hours because of the rise in infections due to the Omicron coronaviruses variant. In an emailed statement on Friday, a Walgreens spokeswoman said the closures affect less than 1% of the company's nearly 9,000 stores.
The spokesperson said that it was an extremely limited, case-by-case basis and not specific to any region or area, as we make every effort to keep pharmacy open for our patients in the community.
Walgreens is working to deploy additional staff to any impacted store as soon as possible.