Business reactions to CDC guidelines vary along with their customers

BOSTON — We are now hearing from major franchises responding to the new CDC guidelines about face coverings.

Trader Joe’s says it will follow those guidelines saying fully vaccinated customers “are not required to wear masks” while shopping, which is something some customers are looking forward to.

“I’d probably take it off if the rules allow you to,” said Paul Fazio of Franklin. “I feel like they have the right to make you wear a mask if they want to enforce that rule but at the same time, I think it would be good for the community if confidence is instilled and everybody feels good about it. I also think you can still wear a mask if the store isn’t requiring it and you’re not comfortable, I think it’s fine.”

But not every business is on board. Walgreens, for example, tells us it is keeping its face-covering policy “for the time being,” a policy other customers say needs to be everywhere.

“I want to go on imposing masks in stores like this because as you can see, Trader Joe’s is very small, it’s not like Stop & Shop where you can follow social distancing,” said Sharon resident Madhavi Atluri. “Trader Joe’s is pretty tight so I want them to have the mask mandate. I am concerned about the people who are not vaccinated and they can remove the masks. What will the stores do for those that are not vaccinated? Are they going to ask for vaccination cards for everyone?”

Atluri still has family back home in India, some of which have died from the COVID variants while still in their 40s. That’s part of the reason, although fully vaccinated, she doesn’t agree with Trader Joe’s.

“It’s very bad,” Atluri said. “My concern is, what happens if the variant comes in the people who are not vaccinated? And they come back and say ‘I am vaccinated’ and they can remove the mask? So I am very concerned about that because I have two kids. One is 15 years old, she can get vaccinated, but what about the small kids below 12 years old? Do you want to come out and people are not vaccinated?”

“I will come in with a mask still on,” said Christine Keegan of Norwood. “Because everybody is still not vaccinated and I want to wait until it gets to a bigger percentage of people.”

In their statement, Trader Joe’s also said it would do crew member wellness checks, prioritize good hygiene practices, increase & enhance routine cleanings and continue supporting social distancing including using plexiglass barriers.

We’ve also heard from Dunkin’ who says it is simply “reviewing the CDC guidance.” Walmart and Costco will also stop requiring masks for fully vaccinated customers. Home Depot and Starbucks will continue to require masks for now. Still, none of this matters until Gov. Charlie Baker removes the mask mandate here in Massachusetts. That will override whatever the company’s national policies are.

Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island have all announced plans to follow CDC guidelines and lift mask mandates for fully vaccinated residents, but not Massachusetts.

Gov. Baker is in Washington, D.C. for the next few days, but he did tweet that an announcement is coming soon, writing: “The new CDC guidance is great news. We will be updating our reopening plans early next week. Massachusetts is on track to vaccinate more than 4 million residents soon. Please stay safe while we prepare next steps to return to our new normal.”

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