To Mask or Not to Mask? What Small Businesses Need to Know about the CDC’s New Guidance

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday it is safe for fully vaccinated people to stop wearing masks in most indoor settings. But the new guidance came with conditions and confusion, leaving small businesses to sort through the information and decide how to update their own rules.

To mask or not to mask? This new announcement sounded like good news for local businesses in Arizona.

“I think this new guidance will bring more clientele to my business and we will not enforce it for now,” says Jasmin Olivo, owner of Jazzed Nails, LLC in Lake Havasu City. “As a nail technician, we are already required to follow sanitation rules like wearing masks, and I hope my customers will start to feel more comfortable getting their nails done as we slowly get back to normal,” she added.

In Scottsdale, Lugari Pet Salon owner Ivan Lugo says he will leave it as an option for his customers. “Our team wears masks for our safety as we work with pets,” he shares, “We want everyone to feel safe and we will continue to provide masks at the entrance of our store.”

Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order March 25 lifting all state COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and barring cities and counties from enforcing mask mandates except in government buildings and on public transit. Previously, Arizona required face-covering for employees and customers of barbers and cosmetologists, and several jurisdictions, including the state’s largest counties, had full mask orders in place.

It will be difficult to determine who is vaccinated and who is not. About 36% of people in the United States are fully vaccinated, and there is no way to tell them apart from the 64% of people who are not. People who receive a vaccine are issued a white paper card, but online scammers have sold forged versions of those. Small-business owners are not required to ask for the vaccination card.

Here are a few considerations for small businesses as they review the new CDC guidance on mask wearing.

1. The federal guidance is expansive. This means fully vaccinated people who have received their final COVID-19 vaccination at least two weeks ago will no longer need to wear masks outdoors or in most indoor settings. But there are limits for healthcare facilities, while flying or taking public transit and in congregate settings such as homeless shelters as well as prisons or jails.
2. The CDC guidance does not override mask orders by states, counties or cities. Soon after the new guidance was announced, government officials in some parts of the country began to adjust their rules to align with federal guidance. Others had yet to weigh in publicly, and some said they were keeping their rules in place while they reviewed the CDC’s suggestions.
3. The new guidance is the result of increased availability of vaccines. Everyone age 16 and older has been eligible for a vaccine for weeks, and those ages 12 to 15 became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recently. Almost half the people in the United States have received at least one vaccine dose, and appointments are readily available across most of the country.
4. Some local governments and businesses are likely to continue requiring masks, at least in the immediate future. If you ride the bus or train or are visiting a family member in a hospital or nursing home, you will still be expected to wear a mask. The mask ordinance in Phoenix remains in effect. The city said rescinding its mandate requires a vote of the city council. More than 5.4 million vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state. More than 3 million, or 43% of the eligible population in Arizona, have received at least one dose. More than 2.5 million people are estimated to be fully vaccinated.

Small businesses should still practice caution and review the guidelines as the pandemic has not been declared over officially, yet. However, this new guidance does provide a ray of light in the 14-month- long battle with COVID-19.

EDGAR RAFAEL OLIVO is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets. He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

Para la versión en español de este artículo, haga clic aquí.