Walmart will start limiting the number of people in stores nationwide on Saturday to combat the spread of COVID-19

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Starting on Saturday, Walmarts nationwide will be “metering” in order to limit the number of customers inside a single store at one time.

The process of metering was put in place back in April for Walmart at all stores across the country. Starting this weekend, Walmart will be back to counting customers. When Walmart started regulating store entry back in April, they were allowing no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, or about 20 percent of a store’s capacity. The new mandate will remain the same, unless there is a lower capacity allowed as required by a local government.

Once a store reaches its capacity, customers will be admitted inside on a “1-out-1-in” basis.

“We know from months of metering data in our stores that the vast majority of the time our stores didn’t reach our self-imposed 20% metering capacity,” Senior Director of Global Communications for Corporate Affairs at Walmart Kory Lundberg wrote to 11 News Friday night.

Both El Paso County and Pueblo County are moving to the “high risk” category this weekend under the COVID-19 Dial Framework implemented by the state. The move does not impact critical businesses, such as grocery stores, but Walmart has decided to implement the new mandate on its own.

Click here for the latest COVID-19 data in El Paso County or click here for the latest data from the Colorado Department of Public Health.