Retail workers are worried they may have to enforce mask-wearing rules again as cities and states begin to reinstate mandates, after multiple violent clashes with anti-maskers.
The last year has seen brawls, shootings, beatings and adult tantrums break out in stores when certain customers have been requested to comply with state or company rules and wear a mask.
Those rules have been eased in the past few months, after a lull in May and June that saw coronavirus infections drop.
But as the Delta variant sends cases soaring again, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention issued guidelines in July recommending that everyone, even the vaccinated, mask up in areas with high positivity rates.
That comes in addition to face covering mandates reinstated in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, Washington DC and the entire states of Louisiana and Nevada over the past days and weeks.
The last year has seen brawls, shootings, beatings and adult tantrums break out in stores when certain customers have been requested to comply with state or company rules and wear a mask. Pictured; a brawl broke out at a California Target on May 1, 2020
In another case, a 'Costco Karen' threw a tantrum and sat on the floor of the superstore in Oregon after she was denied service for refusing to put on a face mask yelling, 'I am an American. I have constitutional rights!'
The renewed mandates come in response to skyrocketing infections driven largely by the Indian delta variant.
The CDC recorded a 64% increase in cases over the past week, with a 7-day moving average of 66,606 new cases compared to 40,597 during the previous one.
In response, there is a rising sense of anxiety among retail workers, who may once again be called on to police the new rules, and potentially face angry customers.
'I think having a mask mandate again will make those difficult customers elevate to new levels of rebellion and anger,' an Ikea worker in California who spoke to Business Insider on condition of anonymity said. 'The first time around I was scared every time I told someone they had to wear a mask, because I wasn't sure if they would comply or if they would cuss at me and spit at me.'
Retail workers across the country have expressed anxiety that they may once again be called to police mask-wearing mandates in stores, and potentially provoke violent incidents. Apple has already required that both workers and customers at at least half of its stores wear masks
Already municipalities such as Los Angeles County are requiring everyone, regardless of vaccination status to wear masks indoors. Pictured shoppers at the LA's Grand Central Market on July 19, two days after the county's mask mandate went into effect
'I don't think anyone wants it mandated for customers again, because it makes customers irrationally angry to have to wear a mask and they become awful to deal with,' another Ikea worker said. 'At this point in the pandemic, nobody has the energy for that crap anymore.'
A Walmart worker in Massachusetts said it might be even more difficult to police mask rules now that shoppers have had a 'taste of freedom.'
'People are getting tired of contradicting information and uncertain levels of precaution toward minimizing the outbreak,' he told the outlet.
Retailers are already starting to require all of their workers once again mask up.
Starbucks said Monday that it will require all workers at it company stores
'Overall, baristas are a little miffed,' a Starbucks barista in Nebraska told Business Insider, 'especially those who have their vaccine shots and have been without masks for a month or more now.'
Many retailers have so far stopped short of requiring customers mask up again. Walmart, Home Depot and Target all said Monday that they encouraged shoppers to wear masks in high-risk areas.
Disney, however, announced last week that all visitors to its US theme parks wear face coverings, and Apple says both shoppers and workers at about half of its store must cover their faces.
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