As families continue to visit Target stores for the food, medicine and essential supplies they need, we’re committed to helping team members and guests stay safe and healthy. On April 2*, we announced additional social distancing and safety measures coming soon, including providing non-surgical face masks and gloves for team members to wear on the job, and monitoring—and metering when necessary—the number of people inside our stores nationwide. We’re also providing each of our team members a health checklist to help them monitor for COVID-19 symptoms before heading to work.
“We’re incredibly proud of the commitment our more than 300,000 frontline team members have demonstrated to ensure millions of guests can count on Target, and we’ll continue to focus our efforts on supporting them,” says John Mulligan, Target’s chief operating officer. “The measures we’re announcing today are aimed at ensuring we are creating a safe environment for the guests who continue to turn to Target, while also providing our team with additional resources as they fulfill an essential service in communities across the country.”
Monitoring and metering in stores
It’s important that our guests have enough space to shop safely and comfortably. So Target is now actively monitoring and, when needed, limiting the total number of people inside based on the store’s specific square footage. If metering is needed, a team member will help guests into a designated waiting area outside with social distancing markers, while others will guide guests inside the store and keep things moving quickly and conveniently. It’s another step to encourage social distancing, on top of the signage, floor decals and audio messages already in place at our stores.
Masks and gloves for our frontline teams
Over the next two weeks, Target will begin providing all team members in our stores and distribution centers with high-quality, disposable face masks and gloves at the beginning of every shift, and strongly encourage our teams to wear them while working. We’ll also provide masks and gloves to Shipt shoppers as they enter our stores. That’s on top of enhancements we’ve made in recent weeks, including our rigorous cleaning routines, Plexiglass partitions at our checklanes and other stations, and more.
Donations to the medical community
In addition to equipping our teams, we’ll also continue to support our communities with supplies as needed. On top of Target’s previous donations of anti-viral and N95 respirator masks to first responders and healthcare professionals at more than 50 organizations across the country, we’ll also donate an additional 2 million KN95 respirator masks to the medical community. And we’ll continue to explore ways to secure additional inventory for those in critical need.
Home-health resources for our team members
We continue encouraging our teams to practice healthy hygiene habits as recommended by the CDC, including monitoring their health and staying home if they show any COVID-19 symptoms. To make that easier, we’re providing all team members a heath checklist—including a symptom checker and guidelines for taking their own temperature—and encouraging them to complete it before coming to work. (We’ll also provide a thermometer to any U.S.-based team member who needs one.) If a team member feels sick, has a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher or shows other common symptoms, we encourage them to stay home from work, and support them with a wide range of paid leave options and benefits.
“We care deeply about the health and safety of our team members, and we recognize all that they are doing to take care of our guests and communities at this time,” says Melissa Kremer, Target’s chief human resources officer. “We’re focused on equipping them with resources so they can take care of themselves and their families and monitor their wellbeing in the comfort of their homes.”
As always, we continue to monitor the situation and consider additional safety measures as needed. For the latest information about Target's response efforts, visit our coronavirus information hub.
*This article was originally published April 2, 2020 and was last updated April 16, 2020.
