While Alabama, Mississippi and Texas will soon join more than a dozen other U.S. states without the requirements of the whole mask, many large retailers and employers are not ready to lower the mandatory face coverage. amid a pandemic which killed more than 1,900 Americans Thursday alone.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is the latest to indicate that masks will soon be optional in her state. Kay on Thursday expanded the state’s mask requirement until April 9, at which point she then expires it and leaves the decision to individuals.
The Republican leader’s announcement came two days after the governors of Texas and Mississippi said they would get rid of mask mandates and so that businesses can function at full capacity.
In decisions cut off as ‘neanderthal thinking’ by President Joe Biden, Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, declared: “We ensure that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.” Meanwhile, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he was “telling people what they can and should not do” to lift mask mandates in the state.
Despite their state policies, residents of Alabama, Texas and Mississippi will still have to wear face masks if they want to walk into numerous supermarkets and other large retail chains. The retailers, which include Kroger, Target and Walgreens, have cited guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue to use masks and take other measures to protect workers and consumers from the virus.
Albertsons Companies, one of the largest supermarket and pharmacy chains in the country, initially said it would abandon the requirement that customers wear face masks in its stores and that only 325,000 employees still have to cover their faces. But the company reviewed its plans Friday.
“Our front-line staff did not have full access to the vaccine. Subsequently, our stores and facilities in Texas will continue to require masks for staff, vendors and customers, regardless of the mask mandate lifted,” a spokesman for the vaccine said. company said in an email statement referring to the governor’s order in Texas, which takes effect on Wednesday, March 10th.
Albertsons operates stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under flags, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. The company also has more than 1700 pharmacies in its grocery stores and is one of the 21 national chains and independent networks operating to a federal program to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines across the US
Other participants in the federal effort are not ready to let customers without masks into their stores and pharmacies.
The Magnolia pharmacy in Magnolia, Texas, will still need masks “for the convenience of my staff and patients,” explains owner Steven Hoffart, who noted that the nature of the business means that sick people walk in regularly. “It’s not really about COVID, it’s due to stomach injury, flu, any illness, cough, cold – if I can prevent it from spreading to my staff, that’s the biggest reason we should ask patients to wear masks. carry, ‘Hoffart said.
A member of AmerisourceBergen’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy Network, Hoffart’s pharmacy, currently immunizes between 100 and 150 people a day with federal and state COVID-19 vaccines, a tiring but joyous operation he describes as’ a second venture.
Walgreens to keep soft memories
“There is currently no change to the company’s mandate policy or any current safety protocols that are in our stores or any other workplace to protect our customers and team members. We follow the current CDC and OSHA safety protocol guidelines,” he said. a Walgreens spokesman said in an email.
The policy of the pharmacy chain has always been to ‘gently remind customers who shop without masks the requirement, but out of concern for the safety of our employees, we do not prevent these customers from shopping’, said a spokesperson. added and refers to the hostile reactions that employees sometimes face when trying to apply mask rules to customers.
Another major pharmacy, CVS Health, will also keep its face-covering policies in stores nationwide, with a CVS Health spokesperson citing the ‘strong scientific evidence’ that masks are helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19. ‘
“If a customer is not wearing a mask or face mask, we will refer it to our signs and ask them to help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and responding to the call for a face mask. to carry, “the spokesman added. . “For security reasons, our employees aim to avoid increased confrontations with customers who do not meet the requirements and instead help them complete their purchases as quickly as possible.”
Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the country, will have a requirement that everyone in our stores across the country wear masks until all our employees can receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the first direction, ‘a spokesperson per e- mail to CBS MoneyWatch said. The company said last month that it would give each of its 500,000 employees in 35 countries $ 100 to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Target also adheres to the requirement for customers and workers to wear masks, including those vaccinated for the coronavirus, “in line with current CDC guidance,” a spokesman for the retailer said in an email. The trader makes an exception for those with underlying medical conditions and young children.
People who prefer not to wear masks can shop through Target’s non-contact options, such as shopping online, the retailer added.
Aldi said it would adhere to its nationwide policy that workers and customers should wear masks in its more than 2,000 grocery stores in 36 states.
“We are aware of the mask missions in both Texas and Mississippi where we have stores. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been following CDC guidelines, and we do not intend to adjust our security measures this time around,” he said. said a spokesman for Aldi in an email.
A Home Depot spokesman said the retailer “requires employees and customers to wear masks in our stores or any other rural Home Depot facility. We will continue to follow CDC guidelines, as we have consistently done.”
Costco, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Whole Foods did not respond to requests for comment.
The National Retail Federation has issued a statement reiterating that retail stores are private institutions that can deny access to or service to those who do not want to comply with their policies. “It is within their competence to apply and implement policies that protect the health and safety of their employees and their customers,” a spokesman for the trade group said in a statement.
The HEB in Texas in Texas did not respond to a request for comment. But the grocery chain, which employs more than 135,000 people in more than 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, appears to be taking a softer stance by speaking to local media.
“Although there is no longer a mask order across the country, HEB believes it is important that masks be worn in public spaces until more Texans and our partners have access to the Covid-19 vaccine,” a spokesman for the HEB told a Fox News affiliate. “HEB will continue to require all of our partners and sellers to wear masks while at work, and we urge all customers to please wear a mask when they are in our stores.”