KERRVILLE, Texas – When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would lift the Covid-19 mask mandate to the state level, he left it to companies to establish and enforce their own policies. HEB, a beloved grocery store in Texas and a stalwart during past crises in the state, is bent.
The company, which has experienced a series of altercations in its aisles regarding the mask policy, initially said it would urge customers to wear masks, but would ask employees to do so. A few days later, after some buyers and workers criticized the grocer, the chain clarified its position. He would leave signs and continue to make announcements attesting that masks were needed and would provide them to buyers without a mask. HEB also said that it will continue its policy of not escalating situations in which a client refuses to wear a mask.
The change in the HE-B message reflects the balancing act that many Texas companies are now facing after the state tasked them with establishing and enforcing the mask policy. Since the mandate was lifted on March 10, some HEB employees and customers say they have noticed several maskless customers buying the aisles.
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After the chain’s initial statement urging customers to wear masks, HEB President Scott McClelland told the Houston Chronicle that the governor’s move removed stores from the “backstop” that the threat of a fine provides, which he said could lead to at the entrance of several people. stores without masks. Mr McClelland said he had to weigh the physical well-being of customers and employees, given the frequent disputes over store masks, even when state mask rules were in place.
“Of all the issues we’ve dealt with over the past year, masks are the most polarizing,” Mr McClelland told Chronicle. “Partly because they were used as a political weapon and partly because, honestly, people don’t like to wear masks.”
HEB said it expects shoppers to continue wearing masks in its stores and has increased security in many of its locations. “The cessation of mask orders puts real pressure on retailers to implement an emotional policy for many and we will not ask our partners to put themselves in danger,” the company said in a written statement.
The government of Greg Abbott, here in February, canceled the mask mandate on March 10.
Photo:
Bob Daemmrich / Zuma Press
Several HEB employees said they had seen an increase in the number of people not wearing masks since Mr Abbott’s announcement. An employee at a HEB in the Bryan-College Station area of East Texas said that during the term he will notice an unmasked buyer maybe every hour or so. Last week, as an experiment, he began taking on a number of people who were not wearing masks during one of his changes. In about five hours, he saw 38 people without masks.
The employee said he wants HEB to take a stronger stance in favor of masks, although he said he understood it would be difficult to implement. “They don’t want chaos and fights in their stores,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an easy choice, by any means … but it’s the right thing to do.”
At a HEB in Kerrville, a small town in downtown Hill’s Texas, employees did not appear to bother a few unmasked shoppers who showed up last Friday morning.
“I don’t like people telling me what to do,” said a male client. “Let me make that decision.”
Some of the largest retail chains, theaters, hotels and restaurants have said they intend to continue to request masks from Texas, Mississippi and other states that have lifted the restrictions.
Many local business owners have cheered on policy change, especially in severely affected sectors such as restaurants that are desperate to bring customers back. In a March survey of more than 700 restaurants by the Texas Restaurant Association, 44% of respondents said they would no longer need face coverage from their customers.
Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top doctor for infectious diseases, says it is risky to reduce public health measures, as coronavirus cases could pay off and then return.
HEB, founded by the Butt family in 1905, has over 400 stores throughout the state. The chain was praised for its pandemic preparedness when it first hit Covid-19, was a major competitor in vaccine launches and is regularly praised for its response to hurricanes and other disasters.
Katy Bravenec, 37, said she lost confidence in HEB after her initial statement and no longer intends to shop at her store in San Antonio. Ms. Bravenec said she researched three HE-Bs after the mask warrant was lifted to see if customers were allowed to buy without a mask. After seeing a handful of customers not wearing masks at every store, she said she would take her business to a nearby Joe’s dealer.
“It didn’t fit their public image,” she said. “You can’t claim to be a strong community partner and then lift the mask when it’s not just for your workers, but for our community. He just seemed hypocritical. ”
Wendy Wright is shopping at a HEB in Houston, but said she will consider moving to nearby Kroger Co.
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store if you notice an increase in the number of shoppers without a mask. Ms Wright said she had been to HEB twice since the Republican governor canceled his mask. On the first trip, she estimated that about 10% of buyers were without a mask. She gave the store another chance last Sunday and did not notice any customers or employees without masks.
“I will take it week by week and, if it seems a safe place for shopping, I will stay. If I let the masks slip, I’ll go to another store, “she said. “I’m 60, I don’t want to play Covid.”
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“The more we talked about it, it didn’t seem right to apply it because it’s not a law.”
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Other Texas companies have struggled if and how to respond to lifting restrictions.
In Pearland, Good Vibes Burgers & Brews restaurant told local media when the mandate was lifted that it cancels all mask requirements. A day later, on March 11, the company said all employees would wear masks and distribute them to disposable customers to anyone who wanted one. A company spokeswoman declined to comment.
Augie Bering V, owner of the Bering DIY stores in Houston, said it was a relief when Texas made a mask warrant available during the summer. Since then, he said, few unmasked people have visited stores. Lifting the mask order has put business owners in a difficult position, he said.
“We were put in the middle,” he said. “Some of the conversations we had were, ‘We need to ask for it so we can implement it.’ But the more we talked about it, it didn’t seem right to apply it because it’s not a law. People might see it as a political thing. “
Almost everyone at Kerrville HEB was masked on Friday morning last week, two days after the warrant was lifted. The election is largely regional, said Rachel Townsend, 24, a mental health worker. She notices far more people wearing masks in Kerrville, which has a high retirement population, than in her hometown of Uvalde, South Texas, she said.
In Fort Worth, 39-year-old Tatiana Miller said she sympathized with the Texas business involved in the mask debate. Ms Miller said companies had no way to implement a masked policy, with or without a mandate. She said she agrees with the policy of urging customers to wear a face covering but not make it mandatory for entry.
“Texans like their choice. It would be easier for people to decide what they should do or not, “she said. “I feel like business can’t win.”
Write to Patrick Thomas to [email protected] and Elizabeth Findell to [email protected]
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