LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The CDC said vaccinated people can move about as they please without masks, but how will business owners know who is vaccinated, especially if they don't believe it's appropriate to ask?
Business owners across the country are wondering what to do about face mask requirements. In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear is lifting the mask mandate on June 11, which is more than four weeks after the CDC announced any vaccinated person can live their lives indoors without masks or social distancing.
The dilemma for Kentucky businesses is how do they know who has been vaccinated or not. Either way, Garwood Linton said he will not ask customers if they have been vaccinated.
“That’s such an invasion of privacy. I would not be comfortable doing that," said Linton, the owner of Louisville's Red Tree Furniture.
Linton said he wants everyone to be as safe as possible. But with the recent CDC announcement, he and other business owners in Louisville are no longer requiring customers to wear face masks.
“I’m not going to be a 'mask police' and hope people can use the best judgment they can keeping others safe,” he said.
Linton said he and his staff are vaccinated. On Saturday, he took down his sign asking customers to wear masks. Linton said after the sign came down, he was curious how customers would react.
“I was not wearing a mask Saturday morning. Everybody in the store was wearing their mask and I felt out of place, so I had to put my mask on. In Paddocks, it was a different situation," he said.
Essentially, every store or restaurant owner will decide how to navigate the next few weeks and beyond when social distancing requirements and capacity restrictions go away completely.
Linton said among the NULU businesses, one restaurant may ask you to sanitize before entering, another may still require the mask and others are fine with customers coming in maskless.
“We’re just trying to figure out the mask mandate."