The brief respite from masks ended in Dallas County on Wednesday when Judge Clay Jenkins issued a new executive order making face coverings mandatory indoors once again.
Retail stores, bars, and restaurants must comply with the requirement and many business owners will be faced with difficult arguments from irate customers, confused as to which requirement they should stick with, as The Dallas Morning News reports.
What are the details?
Much like their customers, business owners are also struggling to make sense of the changing guidance. The challenge has been moved into stores since employers have more authority over their staff than stores have over the general public, as the outlet points out.
It is difficult to find the right answer and to keep everyone calm when employees get told by angry customers that “the governor said I don’t have to,” Gary Huddleston, a spokesman for the Texas Retailers Association, shared with the outlet.
“We just hope that customers will have patience with retailers and their employees who have been through this pandemic and the winter storms and now the delta variant,” he added.
Tom Thumb has put up new signs saying that masks are mandatory for vaccinated and unvaccinated employees, vendors, and customers. “Health and safety policies reflect both the current CDC guidance and local jurisdiction guidelines,” Tom Thumb spokeswoman Christy Lara stated.
Kroger spokeswoman April Martin also said that the stores will be following the executive order issued for Dallas County.
“As we have done since the beginning of the pandemic, we will comply with all local mandates,” Walmart spokeswoman Lauren Willis said.
Many retailers gave up on selling masks or just put them in the clearance section, but now they’re back on the market.
“They’re selling like hotcakes,” Favor The Kind owner Carley Seale said for the outlet.
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