Walmart, Costco, Shoppers Drug Mart among businesses fined for COVID violations: York Region

Some feel big box stores have an unfair advantage by being allowed to stay open during the province-wide COVID-19 lockdown, but they aren’t receiving any preferential treatment by police and bylaw officers in York Region.

Five Walmart locations and a Costco in York Region are among a slew of businesses fined over the last week for COVID-19 violations like improper mask use by employees, lack of cleaning and disinfecting and failure to physically distance at check-out lines.

Each offence carries a fine of $880.

In total, 1,928 inspections took place between Jan. 11 and Jan. 17, with 45 charges laid.

Five Shoppers Drug Mart locations were also hit with fines for “self-checkout not sanitized for use.”

Several grocery stores were also cited. They include Food Basics, FreshCo, No Frills and Sobeys.

The full list can be found here.

The region notes that most businesses are complying with the rules but warns the offenders that further action could be taken if they don’t shape up.

RELATED: Toronto police lay 65 charges over first weekend of stay-at-home order

“Businesses failing to keep their customers and employees safe by not adhering to the mandated COVID-19 safety measures will be subject to fines. Repeat offenders could face temporary closure,” York Region said in a release.

The province reported 235 new cases of COVID-19 in York Region on Tuesday. It remains one of the virus hotspots, along with Toronto, Peel Region and Windsor-Essex.