Wawa must voluntarily close its stores in Pennsylvania to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Workers are scared and concerned; they don't have appropriate PPE or protocol to shield them from the virus. Nor are there mechanisms in place to prevent respiratory transmission between customers and staff and vice versa. Amid a backdrop of closing stores, Wawa is leaning on a blurry technicality to keep stores open- inadvertently turning their locations into sources for spread. We ask that stores without gas stations close, and that locations with gas stations are given boxes (usually during renovations) so only the gas station portion needs to be open.

Wawa's short-term profits are *not* more important than the health and safety of its employees. Wawa's profits are not more important than the lives of its customers. Wawa has an obligation to communities to be a proactive example, to stop the spread of the virus via its stores. Transmission can happen before people become symptomatic. Every expert agrees social distancing and self-isolation is vital to mitigating the most severe effects of COVID-19.

 

By keeping locations open Wawa is facilitating community transmission that otherwise wouldn't happen, and sending a signal to everyone that COVID-19 isn't as serious as authorities say. Wawa employees, families, customers lives are more important than convenient take-away.

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Testimonials:

1. "I have family members that are a high risk and I am scared to death that I will bring this home to them. I'm sorry, but your coffee and Sizzli's are just not that important when it all comes to the bigger picture. I understand the gas situation, but s---, close the damn store and have one or two people volunteer to man those. This is spread so easily and we see so many different people from all over, we are at risk and they don't give a s---."

2. "AGM here. I am becoming more and more uncomfortable coming into work. Essential personnel my a--. My health and the health of my community is not worth a f---ing hoagie. Chris is up there saying not to worry because it's close contact with people for an extended period of time. Ok so we might not interact with a customer for that long but what about each other? All corporate. Let them know how uncomfortable you feel going into work. If you're young and healthy and think you have nothing to worry about, well that might not be the case, but think about your parents grandparents anyone you could possibly infect. Call corporate. Be polite and respectful. But let your voice be heard. Tell them to shut this s--- down."

3. "I’m taking the 14 [emergency paid time off] days. I have a compromised immune system along with breathing issues. If I get it, I’ll most likely die."

4. "I have some health factors that could be an issue with coronavirus. I'm honestly not sure. I am talking to my [doctor] later today to see if I should still be working. I risked my life for Wawa plenty of times (mostly snow storms) before I had my own family, definitely not doing it now."

5. "F------ hoagies? Really? That’s worth risking everything for? It’s ridiculous!"

6. "My store is actually HIRING people right now because people are terrified to come to work and are calling out. Well duh!"

7. "I’m a customer who wrote to Wawa customer service asking why they aren’t closing the stores to customers to ensure the safety of their associates, as well as customers. They could do curbside delivery and of course keep selling gas. But no inside sales. This was the Reply I got:

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Wawa.

In regards to stores closing and curbside pick-up, we will follow required actions set forth by regulatory agencies, and we will always keep our associate and customer safety top of mind. At this time we are deemed as an essential business for food & fuel and have no requirements to close."

8. "I...[want] to provide service to those important and vital people, and they deserve to have us open for them when many others are closed. I think the issue I have is the hundreds of other people who come out at 3[AM] on a Tuesday morning to mass buy milkshakes and hoagies when they are being told to stay home. I get that [it's] not ideal for most people and I'm not saying I don't care about our community and regulars but at what point do we worry about ourselves and our loved ones?... I would gladly man the store if all we served was police, Nurses EMS [etc]"

9. "I know we are essential and have no issue staying open for snow storms etc... But this is a different beast and a medical thing. We aren't first responders."

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Wawa is a corporate and community leader. The board needs to demonstrate appropriate behavior in these extreme circumstances- business as usual and waiting for the state to act hurts Wawa's customers, employees, and stakeholders. And Pennsylvania as a whole. It's time for Wawa to protect employees, employees' families, and customers by temporarily shutting its doors in PA.