The state may have ended its COVID-19 mask mandate, but now some consumers are making decisions on where to spend their money based on how businesses are reacting to the end of the requirement.
When Gov. Daniel J. McKee ended the indoor mandate on Feb. 11, he left it up to individual businesses to decide whether to enforce their own policies requiring indoor masking or proof of vaccination.
Jeffrey Hardiman, an attorney from Cranston, said he’s not spending a dime at stores or restaurants that ask him to wear a mask or show his vaccination card. “Any place that requires a mask will only enrich its competitors,” he said, adding that he went grocery shopping in Massachusetts recently just to avoid Rhode Island’s rule.
“I’m done wearing a mask,” said Hardiman, who was vaccinated for COVID-19 after getting infected early in the pandemic. “If a business wants to require their customers to wear a mask and show proof of vaccination, that’s their choice. It’s equally my choice to go where no one is going to force me to wear a mask. There’s no ill will.”
On the other side, fellow Cranston resident Lori Grover said she’s avoiding businesses that are not asking customers to put on a mask or show proof of vaccination.
“They will not be getting my business,” said Grover, a certified divorce mediator. “I have walked out of businesses if there’s a sign on the door that requires masks or vaccines, and I get in the store, and the employees won’t enforce it. I understand why some won’t. But if there are people unmasked, and it’s an environment like that, I will leave.”
Sarah Bratko, Rhode Island Hospitality Association spokeswoman, said her organization is asking for the public to respect the decisions of businesses that are maintaining masking and vaccination policies, and to be considerate to employees tasked with enforcing the measures.
“There will be businesses that decide to keep mask policies in place,” Bratko said. “We ask that customers are respectful of that and remember to be kind to the employees who are working. If you don’t want to follow whatever an individual restaurant is doing, you’re free to go to a different one. We just ask that people be nice.”
While many stores and restaurants are nixing masking and proof-of-vaccination policies – and others are opting for signage with masking recommendations rather than rules – some small businesses are keeping the requirements in place.
The owner of downtown Providence restaurant Oberlin, which adopted a proof-of-vaccination policy last summer before a statewide mandate, said he’s sticking with COVID-19 measures for the safety of his guests and 24 employees.
Benjamin Sukle, the James Beard-nominated chef, acknowledged that his policies may turn off some potential customers, but he’s not going to consider changing them until the state’s COVID-19 positive testing rate dips below 5%.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect my little pod of people,” Sukle said. “I realize there will be less profits because of that. … It’s not just about how much money you can bring in. “
Without a vaccination and masking policy in place, Sukle said he could be short-staffed because of employees getting sick more often, costing the business more money as it compensates workers for their time spent in isolation.
Sukle said most guests have no problem complying with the restaurant’s mandate.
“We get people that are just angry that they have to pull something out of their phone or show us their card,” Sukle said. “But it’s very little.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
