NEW ORLEANS – Mayor LaToya Cantrell has addressed local and national business chains that are not abiding by the city’s COVID-19 mask guidelines.

Speaking at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Department of Public Works maintenance building in Mid-City, Cantrell said an enforcement sweep turned up several “bad actors” over the weekend.

Specifically, Cantrell called the situation at the Walmart location in New Orleans East “unacceptable.”

“I have asked that if they can’t get it together, that we’ll have to close that store unfortunately,” Cantrell said. “Because that will take away the accessibility of the residents, but everybody needs to follow the rules.”

Cantrell said all Walmart customers and staff need to wear masks inside the store. If the city does close the store down because of mask violations, there will be a plan to reopen it after conditions are met, Cantrell said.

“I had a conversation, actually coming here, I was talking to Mr. Rouse, Donnie Rouse,” Cantrell said. “There’s a couple of the stores that we are focusing on. Quite frankly, General De Gaulle store – unacceptable. And while we have noticed improvements to the Uptown store, we’re not there yet. But I’m working with Mr. Rouse in this regard, and he’s committed to making sure they are in compliance 100 percent.”

Cantrell said other national chains that have violated the city’s mask rules include Dollar Tree and Family Dollar. Representatives from the city are working to contact the appropriate people at each company to reinforce the rules, Cantrell said.