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Big businesses such as Starbucks and Costco are loosening up mask mandates where local legal orders allow. Fox Business reports:
Starbucks, Target and CVS on Monday joined a growing list of companies loosening their coronavirus face mask policies after federal health officials declared that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to cover their faces while in stores.
Effective immediately, customers who are two weeks past their last required vaccine dose no longer need to cover their nose and mouth while inside a CVS, Target or Starbucks location unless it is mandated by state or local regulations, the companies announced in separate statements.
However, customers who are not fully vaccinated will still be asked to continue wearing appropriate face coverings until they are vaccinated.
CVS and Starbucks employees are still required to cover up at work while Target employees are “strongly recommended” to do so if they are not vaccinated.
“Face coverings will continue to be strongly recommended for guests and team members who are not fully vaccinated and we’ll continue our increased safety and cleaning measures, including social distancing, throughout our stores,” Target said in a note to customers Monday.
Companies like Target that are lifting their policy remain committed to keeping the health and safety of their guests as a “top priority.”
In a statement, Starbucks said it will continue “meeting or exceeding all public health mandates.”
Similarly, CVS said both health, safety and science will continue to drive its decision-making process.
In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people last week, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities — large or small — without wearing a mask or physically distancing,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said during a White House briefing Thursday.
Fully vaccinated individuals are still advised to wear masks while in crowded indoor settings like public transportation, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, according to the CDC. Immunocompromised individuals are also encouraged to consult a physician before giving up masks, Walensky said Thursday, warning that if the country’s case counts go back up the guidance could change.
Within one day of the long-waited announcement, many major companies began been lifting their once strictly enforced mask mandates as an increasing number of Americans shedding face coverings after getting shots.
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