State’s restaurateurs ready to comply with, but hesitant to go beyond, mask mandates
As Connecticut municipalities weigh whether to institute a mask mandate within their borders, the restaurant industry is waiting for each town’s decision with a mixture of fatigue and apprehension, most saying that they will comply with but not go beyond the mandates.
“My concern is that if we go to the municipality level, we have 169 towns. For 18 months, we’ve done statewide mandates,” said
Scott Dolch, executive director of Connecticut Restaurant Association. “In the long game, if the people in charge are mayors or first selectmen, how long will their mandates stay if we start to flatten the curve?”
Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order Thursday allowing towns towns and cities to make their own coronavirus regulations after announcing he would not make a statewide mandate. New Haven was the first Connecticut municipality to mandate mask wearing at all indoor gathering spaces.
Since the start of the COVID19 health crisis, mask wearing has become a flashpoint in stores and restaurants. After weeks of waning mask guidance, towns are clamping down again, primarily in response to the rapid rise of infections attributed to the highly contagious delta variant.
Many restaurateurs dread having to go back to policing their customers.
“I am not looking forward to tangling with people again. … People jump ugly with you,” said Alison de Renzi of L’orcio in New Haven, which implemented a mask mandate starting on Monday.
“I am not looking forward to tangling with people again. … People jump ugly with you.” — Alison de Renzi of L’orcio in New Haven
Others welcome a mandate as a way of deflecting blame from the restaurant. Donna Curran, manager of ZINC in New Haven, said “Having a mandate is another way to say, ‘It’s not us, it’s a mandate’.”
West Hartford, known statewide for its restaurant scene, has a mask mandate in municipal buildings but has decided against extending it to other indoor spaces. Mayor Shari Cantor cited the town’s vaccination success.
“West Hartford has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state,” Cantor said. “We have seen high rates of compliance with accurate and timely information and guidance. Although we have seen a rapid increase in number of cases in the past two weeks from delta, the numbers are still low as they are off of almost no community spread.”
Dolch pointed out that even in towns without mask mandates, restaurants can individually decide to impose one. This decision is usually made after a discussion between the owners and staff.
“You have the authority to mandate masks in your business. You can do that today,” Dolch said. “If it makes customers feel more comfortable, it’s totally fine. For others, customers don’t want that in a town that doesn’t want that.”
Christiane Gehami, owner of Arugula in West Hartford, has not imposed a mask mandate. Her staff are all vaccinated but they do not wear masks.
“I don’t want to go out to eat and have to wear a mask every time I stand up. They’re uncomfortable,” she said.
Gehami wants to go further, demanding vaccination proof upon entry, so the whole staff knows that a customer is safe. But everyone she talks to says it’s a bad idea.
“People in general say that restaurants who ask for vax cards will turn people away,” Gehami said. “But people who go out to eat want to know it’s a safe haven. If you get a vaccine and show your card, there is no question. New York does it. Oregon is doing it. Why aren’t we doing it?”
Restaurant groups in several large cities are now mandating proof of vaccination, including Union Square Hospitality Group in New York and Washington D.C., a 500-member bar trade group in San Francisco, a group of music venues in New Orleans and Bengelina Hospitalty Group in St. Louis.
A few entertainment venues in Connecticut are implementing vax proof, including Westport Country Playhouse, Playhouse on Park in West Hartford and Bar, the nightclub and restaurant in New Haven, which may be the first restaurant in the state to require vaccination proof or negative, recent test results.
Scott Smith, COO of Max Restaurant Group, which has locations in Hartford, West Hartford, Glastonbury and Avon, said employees at all locations wear masks because “It was getting difficult to manage knowing who had vaccines and who didn’t.” As for guests, if a municipality institutes a mask mandate, Max restaurants will comply. If not, they won’t do it.
“I can’t see any reason to want to buck what is being said locally,” Smith said. “A lot of those decisions have been made based on local infection rates and what’s going on in the hospitals.”
Smith acknowledged that not all restaurant patrons come from the town where the restaurant is, so vaccination rates among customers could vary. But he said he didn’t think customers would hesitate to patronize a restaurant in a town with a mandate.
“I don’t think people will have a problem with it. We’ve had a few bad apples who didn’t like being told to wear a mask. But already we’re seeing a lot of people coming in and out of restaurants wearing masks,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to see a big revolt.”
According to data released Thursday, 64% of Connecticut residents are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and rates exceed 70% in towns like Glastonbury, Farmington and West Hartford. Canaan, in Litchfield County, has the highest vaccination rate in the state with more than 94%.
Dolch emphasized that the changing nature of the virus and infections make every decision a fleeting one.
“Every day is a new day. May 19 came around, saying if you are fully vaxxed you can take the mask off. That quickly changed and we could turn back to that again,” he said. “In the current time, it’s all about comfort level. Restaurants don’t want to lose customers.”
Dr. Howard Forman, professor of radiology and public health at Yale University in New Haven, said people should not think of masking as promoting protection for the individual, but protection for the whole community.
“The issue is reducing community transmission. The more we can do — masking, social distancing, avoiding high-risk environments — each one of these things contributes to reducing transmission.”
Forman said masking is a small step to keep life as normal as possible.
“There’s no two ways around it. Life is not normal. Mentally you may say you hate masks but if wearing masks periodically gets you back to normal where you can be with family again and get back to normal prevalence in communities, it makes all the difference in the world.”