An abrupt relaxation of mask policies at some retail and grocery stores has left workers reeling as they try to sort out what the new environment means for their own safety and relationship with customers
NEW YORK -- An abrupt relaxation of mask policies has left workers at supermarkets and other stores reeling as they try to sort out what the new environment means for their own safety and relationship with customers.
Kroger, the country's largest grocery chain, became one of the latest to announce that, starting Thursday, workers and customers can stop wearing masks in states where mandates are no longer in effect. Other companies that have adopted similar changes include Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Macy's, Costco, Home Depot, Trader Joe's and Target, following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control.
Some workers have taken to social media to cheer, but many others protested. Some don’t trust customers — or their co-workers — to be truthful about their vaccination status since most companies are not requiring proof. Others fear they will be judged if they leave their own masks on, even though their reasons for doing so are varied.
William Stratford, 29, won’t be fully vaccinated until next month, but shoppers and co-workers at the home improvement store where he works had been coming in without a mask even before the CDC put out its latest guidance.
He has complained to management and eats lunch in his car to avoid mask-less people in the breakroom. He gets stares from shoppers and co-workers.
“I know for a fact people have a negative opinion of me,” said Stratford of Valley Center, California, who asked that the store where he works not be named out of fear of reprisal. “It’s become a divisive issue in the workplace.”
The CDC last week said fully vaccinated people — those who are two weeks past their final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine — can stop wearing masks outdoors and in most indoor settings. The guidance still calls for people who are not fully vaccinated to continue wearing masks indoors, and for everyone to wear them in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.
That has left grocery stores, discount chains, restaurants and other employers scrambling to decide whether and how to adjust their own policies. Some companies, including Trader Joe's and Macy's, are allowing vaccinated customers to drop their masks but not employees. Meanwhile, some grocery chains like Safeway are leaving their mask requirements in place.
Some workers worry they have been left to bear the fallout of a confusing jumble of policies. John Bartlett, a meat manager at a Safeway in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, said he is personally relieved that, for now, his store is still requiring masks for everyone but he worries that the policy will make dealing with anti-mask customers even more difficult.
Read More : pg slot
