Greenville City Council will vote tonight on an ordinance enforcing masks in grocery stores and pharmacies.
All employees in contact with the public at restaurants, retail stores, salons, grocery stores and pharmacies will be expected to wear a face covering at all times if the ordinance (.pdf) is passed, while customers at grocery stores and pharmacies will also be expected to wear a mask, according to the ordinance.
Businesses will post signs of the requirement but will not be expected to enforce mask-wearing among customers. Still, customers who do not comply could be pressed by police for a $25 civil infraction fee.
On the other hand, businesses that do not enforce mask wearing among employees who interact with the public will be charged up to $100 for each day of violation.
“The number of cases is growing rapidly and if COVID-19 continues to spread in the city, the number of persons relying on medical, pharmaceutical and general cleaning supplies will increase, the private and public sector work force will be negatively impacted by absenteeism and the demand for medical facilities may exceed locally available resources,” the proposed ordinance said.
City Council added the proposed ordinance to the agenda after Greenville County — a state hotspot for COVID-19 — reached 21,721 reported cases. The number of possible cases adds up to 25,257, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data.
