Walmart, Costco and other stores banned from selling non-essential items

• In Vermont and Indiana, local authorities have issued a ban on the sale of non-essential products.

• Orders affect chains like Walmart, Costco, and Target

• In the United States unemployment increases; 701 thousand jobs were lost in March

This is in the United States, where some local governments have imposed stricter measures to try to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, including retailers such as Walmart, Costco and Target cannot sell ‘non-essential’ products.

This is stated in a report by Business Insider in which they realize that the stockings apply to items such as clothing and electronics, this in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and avoid an unnecessary influx of consumers in stores.

According to the media, among the states where such measures have been implemented are Vermont, where the Community Development and Trade Agency ordered major department and self-service stores, including Walmart, Costco and Target, to stop selling non-essential items within the executive order of the governor a few days ago.

“This volume of shopping traffic (customers) significantly increases the risk of further spread of this virus (…) and the viability of the Vermont healthcare system. We are directing these stores to prioritize public health and help us reduce the number of shoppers”, Indicates a commuter cited by BI.

A similar situation is being seen in Howard, Indiana where the Board of County Commissioners also enforced a rule that prohibits companies in the area from selling non-essential items.

Double-edged measurement

The intention of the local authorities is to stop or mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, in an effort to protect public health. However, such a brake can seriously affect the local economy and unemployment.

Although consumers have changed their priorities when making purchases due to the health emergency they are facing worldwide; in the United States, for example, more than 40 percent of people has increased their spending on health and hygiene products, as well as cleaning products and reduced their spending on clothing and electronics (68 percent), according to a survey of Statista, The reality is that the gene will still need, albeit to a lesser extent, all kinds of items, not just those that are in greatest demand.

Bans on the sale of certain products considered non-essential may affect not only retailers’ regrets, but also employment, an index that is growing in the United States due to the pandemic.

In this regard, the most recent data related to people who applied for “unemployment benefit” reached the 6 million 648 thousand citizens, last April 4 and, according to data from the Department of Labor, only during March were they lost 701 thousand jobs.