MARRERO, La. (WGNO) — Walmart Corporate Affairs announced the temporary closure of its Marrero store located at 4810 Lapalco Boulevard starting at 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 3.

The closure comes on the heels of similar closures in both New Orleans and Kenner last week in an ongoing effort to battle the latest surge of COVID-19 due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant that as of Monday morning has reportedly infected another 31,000 people in Louisiana over the holiday weekend.

Walmart will use the closure to allow a third-party specialist to sanitize the store and give store associates additional time to restock shelves and prepare the store to reopen at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

When the store reopens, it will continue to follow all state and local mandates regarding the use of masks, proof of vaccination or negative COVID test within 72 hours of entry.

Walmart will also continue conducting associate health assessments, and all unvaccinated associates must still wear face coverings.