Retailers grapple with mask use
DETROIT — As COVID-19 vaccinations increased and mask guidelines were loosened earlier this summer, Joyce Webster Jones took down the “masks required” sign at her business, Source Bookseller in Detroit’s Midtown.
However, she changed her mind when infection rates began to rise again because of the delta variant.
“Then things started getting dicey for me, so we put signs up on the door again,” she said. “And the orders came behind that masks should be encouraged.”
With the delta variant fueling fears of a fourth COVID-19 surge in Michigan, weary operators of shops, restaurants and other retail businesses face a quandary: Do they reinstitute mask mandates — in line with advice from national, state and local health officials — and risk backlash from customers tired of restrictions as the pandemic reaches a year and a half?
Smaller stores, like Source Bookseller, might be more likely to require or request that patrons wear masks, while larger stores and chains might be more lenient, experts say. One business, Michigan First Credit Union, has taken a stance in the opposite direction, instead frowning on mask usage — unless the masks are clear.
Big chain retailers like Walmart and Home Depot are taking a middle approach: They’re requiring masks for employees and unvaccinated customers, and encouraging mask usage for shoppers who have gotten the shots.
Jennifer Rook, vice president of communications and marketing for the Michigan Retailers Association, said businesses are concerned about backlash from customers.
“In the spirit of the safety of the employees, a number of retailers have said, ‘You know if customers are walking in without masks on, let them,’ “she said. “It’s not worth getting into a confrontation about. Employees are still wearing masks.
“I have started to see retailers say ‘will you please put a mask on, it’s in the safety of everyone in our store, it’s a smaller setting for our employees.’ I’m starting to see masks being put out again, but it’s not consistent. It’s really a caseby-case basis.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance suggests that residents statewide should mask up when indoors in public because of COVID-19 transmission rates in Michigan. Cases are up significantly since early August, when fewer than half of Michigan counties had substantial or high rates of spread.
Statewide positivity has increased to 8.6%, continuing a two-month upward trend.
Some stores are considering the level of transmission in their area when adopting mask policies, said Julie Swann, a department head and professor of the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. She has done work forecasting and modeling interventions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Swann said a pharmacy might be more likely to ask patrons to wear masks due to serving a vulnerable clientele than a hardware store that has a mix of customers. Store owners may also take into account the size of their store, she said.
“Places that have smaller spaces, ceilings that are not as tall, it’s an all-indoor setting as opposed to being partially outdoors, it’s a crowded setting,” she said. “All of those things make the environment higher-risk than a big store where you have more space to spread out.”