"Anti-Theft" Gates inside Stores (Walmart, Kroger, etc)

Has anyone else seen these new motion detector style gates inside walmarts/Krogers as you enter the front doors? It's like another entry into the store. They started putting them up in the Atlanta area Krogers at the beginning of the year, and now I see them in walmart also. None of the workers give me a straight answer as to what the purpose of them is. Some say it's to keep people from shoplifting, or some other bs story, but (and I know this sounds crazy...) they seem like they're just prepping for the eventual entry of people, once you scan your covid vaccine passport.

The story linked below shows them being installed in January of 2020, and I saw another article from 2019. But it just seems odd that they are showing up right as all the chatter is building around vax passports. IDK? Maybe it's nothing... What say you?

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