Thousands urging H-E-B to make patrons wear masks
When government officials no longer required people to wear face masks, H-E-B didn’t either.
That’s prompted more than 27,000 people to sign an online petition asking the San Antonio retailer to make masks mandatory for customers at its stores.
“HEB, as a private company, is free to require customers to wear masks in their stores, regardless of whether state or local laws require it,” the Change.org petition states. “HEB needs to REQUIRE shoppers to wear face-coverings if they want to shop in their stores.”
As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, Houston, San Antonio and other cities required residents to wear masks in public and places such as grocery stores, where social distancing is difficult.
Gov. Greg Abbott effectively undid that requirement when he issued an order in late April preventing local governments from fining or jailing people for not wear masks in public. At the same time, he also announced plans to allow businesses to begin reopening.
On Tuesday, as reported cases of COVID-19 continued to spike, the mayors of Texas’ largest cities asked the governor to once again require Texans to wear masks in public.
H-E-B is following local ordinances and strongly encouraging customers to wear face coverings, company spokeswoman Dya Campos said. Employees and vendors are required to wear masks.
“We want our customers to wear masks in our stores,” she said. “Enforcing it, without a local ordinance, is extremely difficult.”
H-E-B controlled 60 percent of the South Texas market in 2019, according to the Shelby Report, an industry publication.
As retailers such implement a slew of safety measures and adapt to a patchwork of government orders, they are confronting questions about how to ensure customers follow public-health rules. Enforcement often falls to employees.
Some workers at H-E-B, Walmart, Target, Costco Wholesale Corp. and other large retailers have contracted COVID-19. H-E-B, one of the few companies to publicly post the number of employees who have
caught the virus, has reported at least 30 cases among its San Antonio-area employees so far in June.
Masks in particular have become a flash point as Texas and other states reopen, with clashes over whether the coverings should be required or not.
Costco faced some backlash when it said employees and customers alike must wear a face covering starting May 4. The requirement doesn’t apply to children under age 2 or people unable to wear coverings because of a medical condition.
“We know some members may find this inconvenient or objectionable, but under the circumstances we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience,” Costco president and CEO Craig Jelinek said in a statement. “This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others too.”
“Although some may disagree with this policy or question its effectiveness, we’re choosing to err on the side of safety in our shopping environments,” Jelinek said. “As part of a community, we believe this simple act of safety and courtesy is one that Costco members and employees can undertake together.”
David Spener, a sociology professor at Trinity University in San Antonio and long-time H-E-B customer, said he started the Change.org petition because he was concerned.
He said he emailed the company before posting the petition. He was told the company would be adding signage and messaging at its stores encouraging customers to take precautions — but that it was difficult for H-E-B to enforce a mask policy without a local ordinance.
After Spener posted on Facebook about the issue, someone suggested he start a petition.
“It’s not intended as an attack on H-E-B. We just want them to do the right thing by their customers, employees and the community at large,” Spener said in an interview.
Many major retailers — including Walmart — are requiring employees to wear masks, and urging customers to follow suit and take other safety precautions.
“Maintaining customer and associate safety remains our top priority,” a Walmart spokesperson said. “We encourage customers to be especially mindful of one another during this unprecedented time and adhere to recommendations that we all use face coverings while in public spaces.”
Like Walmart, Target is giving workers masks and requiring them to wear the coverings while at work.
“In areas where local governments are asking residents to wear masks, we have added signage and stationed team members outside stores to remind guests to wear masks while shopping in stores,” a spokesperson said.
Trader Joe’s is “urging” employees to use masks “for their protection and the protection of those around them,” the grocery chain said in a May 28 announcement.
“We strongly encourage customers to wear a mask or face covering while shopping in all our stores,” the company added. “Where face coverings are required by state or local authorities, we communicate that to our customers as well.”
Whole Foods Market is mandating that employees wear face masks and requesting that customers do so, too. The grocery chain is providing masks for customers at the entrance of all of its stores, a spokesperson said.
Sprouts Farmers Market is also requiring masks for workers and “customers are encouraged to wear face coverings, while specific mask requirements for customers vary based on state and local requirements,” a spokesperson said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear face coverings when around others, among other safety measures.
Some studies have shown that communities that required masks and implemented other prevention measures were able to slow the rate of coronavirus cases, said Dr. Bryan Alsip, chief medical officer for University Health System.
“Wearing of masks in public has been shown to be one of the elements of successful strategy in reducing the transmission of COVID-19, along with physical distancing, hand hygiene and other things,” he said.
As businesses reopen and more people venture out, masks are just as important now as before, Alsip added.
“If you’re wearing a mask, you’re not only less likely to get infected yourself, but much less likely to spread it to somebody else, even if you’re asymptomatic,” he said. “If more people are wearing masks, it really means that you’re sort of reducing that likelihood of person-to-person spread.”