According to the owner of the institution, patrons at a Mexican restaurant in Texas threatened to call in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) among employees over their refusal to work without masks.
“It was continued by COVID,” Steven O’Sullivan, owner of Cantina Barba in Houston, told The Washington Post.
“We threatened to call ICE,” O’Sullivan said. ‘I had one man who just stood by one of my bartenders and said to her,’ You’re an absolute idiot, you do not know what you have ‘does again. If you think these masks are going to save your life, you’re stupid, ‘blah, blah, blah. No one wants to deal with those things. ”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced last week that he has wounded the state’s mask mandate and that businesses may operate at 100 percent capacity.
“We still strongly advocate that every Texan should follow best practice,” Abt said. “Where we are today is completely different from where we were last year when Texans and Americans did not know how to deal with it. Texans have been learning best practice all year long, and that is wearing a mask , and we still recommend that people wear a mask. ‘
The Post has required a number of businesses in Texas that their owners say require someone in their institutions to wear face masks out of their safety and security for their employees and customers.
Monica Richards, co-owner of Mexican restaurant Picos, said she and her staff received harassing messages on social media and at the store by phone.
“It was just awful,” Richards told the Post. ‘People do not understand, unless you are in our business how it feels, how difficult it was to go through everything we went through during COVID. That people should be negative towards us to try to stay safe so that it does not continue to happen, just makes no sense to us. ”
Federal health officials have blasted Abbott’s decision on mask mandates and similar moves by governors in states like Mississippi.
‘I understand the need to want to be normal again, but you are only going to hold yourself back if you just completely set aside the guidelines for public health – especially if we are from everywhere [55,000] up to 70,000 infections per day in the United States, ” Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciSunday shows preview: Manchin rounds out crucial role in coronavirus relief debate Overnight Defense: White House opens for military force reform | Army base could house migrant children Fauci scolds military on vaccine Overnight health care: CDC study links masks to fewer COVID-19 deaths | Enlightenment debate stalls in the Senate | Biden gets criticism over pressure to vaccinate teachers MORE said this week.