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Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P Chittenden, said Tuesday that he is in favor of requiring Vermonters to wear masks in retail stores. He said the Senate in the coming days will be discussing whether to move forward with a legislative masking mandate.
As Gov. Phil Scott has allowed retail establishments to reopen on a limited scale this week, he is requiring that shop employees, but not customers, wear masks.
While the governor is encouraging Vermonters to wear masks in public, he has said that given the state’s sharp drop in Covid-19 cases, a statewide masking mandate is unnecessary. He says he prefers using education initiatives to encourage members of the public to wear masks, rather than issuing an enforceable order.
The Senate leader said that he wanted the governor to require Vermonters to wear masks in public and that it’s “not ideal” for public health orders to come from the Legislature. But in absence of action from Scott, Ashe said the Senate should “at least debate the question.”
“By requiring the employee to wear a mask it means we’re protecting the customer from something the employee might have. But by not requiring the customer to wear it, it means we’re saying that the employee’s health is left to the whims of customer choice,” Ashe said.
“And so, I feel like we would be doing everyone a favor by having one uniform policy,” he added.
In an interview last week, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, suggested that she also favored a masking requirement, and said she wished the governor’s reopening policy included more “clarity” on masks.
“I understand that a mandate is difficult for some people to stomach, but it is what the science behind this virus demands,” Johnson said. “So if there could be some more clarity and consistency on that, it actually helps all of us get through this a lot faster.”
The speaker didn’t say whether the House would be taking up legislation on the matter, and noted that she has questions about how a mandate would be enforced.
“What do you do if somebody isn’t wearing a mask? How is that enforceable, and what do you do with them and what sort of confrontation does that set up?” Johnson said.
Scott has given municipalities the flexibility to establish their own masking mandates. On Monday evening, local officials in Burlington and South Burlington passed new requirements doing just that.
The Burlington City Council passed a resolution requiring people to wear masks in retail stores and city buildings, while the South Burlington City Council passed a resolution making them a requirement in only city-owned buildings.
Neither of the resolutions contain enforcement mechanisms.
In states that have put mask mandates in place, including Massachusetts, law enforcement can issue fines if people don’t comply. Scott has said he opposes placing additional financial burdens on already struggling citizens.
Ashe said Tuesday that he will speaking with legislators on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee this week to see if they have the “appetite to push for” a mandatory mask policy.
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