This week Costco, Starbucks, Best Buy and Panera Bread all announced regulations requiring customers to wear masks to enter their stores. Up until now most other major retailers were giving customers the option to wear a mask while shopping their locations or not. That freedom may soon be coming to an end.
On Wednesday Walmart announced they will be requiring customers to wear masks in all of their stores starting on July 20.
The National Retail Federation is now encouraging all of their members to adopt similar policies. Mask may soon become a requirement in every retail location in the country.
“The president of the National Retail Federation trade group wants retailers to adopt a nationwide policy that requires customers to wear masks, and hopes Walmart’s decision to do so would galvanize other companies to take similar action, reports Reuters.”
“Shopping in a store is a privilege, not a right. If a customer refuses to adhere to store policies, they are putting employees and other customers at undue risk,” the National Retail Federation says.
The question is at what point do these regulations get rolled back? When we develop a successful vaccine? When we develop “herd immunity?” Unfortunately at this point there is no telling when that will be.
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman