[ad_1]
By DIEGO JESUS BARTESAGHI MENA
[email protected]
Company policies appear to require employees at all Montclair supermarkets to wear masks or other face coverings – but those requirements do not extend to customers.
Still, supermarkets ask customers to mask themselves on purpose – and on recent store visits, many or most were.
Any customer entering Acme on Valley Road sees a sign: “Per CDC guidance, masks [are] encouraged for all customers in areas with high and substantial COVID-19 transmission rates. “
As of this week, every county in New Jersey is classified as high transmission area by the CDC. A few weeks ago, Essex and most other counties were ranked a notch lower on the CDC scale, as areas of substantial transmission, but the number of cases is steadily increasing as the ultra-variant contagious Delta coronavirus continues to dominate U.S. cases. And, as the ACME panel suggests, the CDC encourages indoor masking for all people – regardless of vaccination status – in these areas.
Gov. Phil Murphy has also encouraged masking in indoor public places, but has not implemented a new mandate since the indoor mask requirement was lifted in May.
“I think everyone should wear a mask when they go inside. We have to take care of each other, ”said Jessica Johnson, a Montclair resident who did her weekly groceries on August 20.
ACME announced a masking requirement for all store workers earlier this month. At the time, Local 152 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union criticized it for not demanding the same from customers, pointing to CDC guidelines.
“Customers… are not required to wear a mask and can shop without a mask even when these people are not vaccinated” the union wrote in a statement on Aug. 3.. “Acme Markets’ failure to comply with CDC mask recommendations unnecessarily exposes our members and their families to the Delta variant and is completely unacceptable.
The company said on Twitter in May that all customers were required to wear masks at the time. August 1st it’s said on Twitter masks were required “until state and local government mandates dictate otherwise,” but at that time, no requirements were in place in New Jersey. And on August 13, he said signage in important and high-transmission areas was in place for “encourage customers to follow CDC mask guidelines. “
Montclair Local sent messages by phone and email to the public relations offices of ACME, Kings Food Market and Whole Foods about police masks in their stores last week, but have yet to receive a response. .
A sign at Kings on Valley Road, like the one in Acme, encourages but does not require masks for customers.
a Supermarket chain website FAQ says protective face covers – masks or face shields – are required for associates. Face shields are allowed in cases where medical reasons prevent a store associate from wearing sheet masks, the site says. But it also includes dated information, claiming that a Murphy’s Order in Council requires masks for customers.
During a visit on August 20, all customers and employees appeared to wear masks. A customer walked inside without a mask, but seemed to remember as he entered, quickly pulling a mask from his pocket and putting it on.
“I am vaccinated and I always wear my mask when I am outside. I have a keychain with hand sanitizer with me all the time. This thing is not over yet, ”said Ana Williams in front of Kings.
She said most people wear masks inside the stores she visited.
“I only saw one or two people who weren’t wearing a mask. I give them a sidelong eye, ”she said.
Whole foods said on his site guests fully vaccinated against the coronavirus are welcome indoors without a mask, but unvaccinated guests are asked to continue to wear masks indoors. Masks are required for store workers in high or high transmission locations, such as Essex County, and for any team member who has not provided proof of vaccination to the company.
During a visit to the Bloomfield Avenue store on August 20, all employees and most customers wore masks. A single customer who went without a mask did not appear to be approached by a store employee or other customers about it.
“I don’t mind wearing a mask indoors. I kind of got used to it. I don’t mind, ”Rodolfo Chacin told Whole Foods. “I saw a person inside without a mask but I didn’t bother. To each their own, I guess.
Helen Collado, outside of Whole Foods, said she has extra masks in her car, just in case someone needs them. She started wearing masks when she saw how her family and friends would forget their masks.
“I think we should continue to wear masks whether or not you are vaccinated,” Collado said. “With this new variant, we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Joanna Vega, also outside of Whole Foods, said she didn’t walk into a supermarket without a mask, but took it off when she was outside. She said she wanted more people to get vaccinated so that the mask would become less necessary.
“I just don’t want us to go back to a mask warrant or a lockdown. We were doing so well, we can come back to it, ”said Vega.
[ad_2]
Source link