Updated at 7:45 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Burlington business owners appear conflicted about new state and federal guidance that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer have to wear masks indoors.
Some are celebrating the change in policy as a return to normalcy more than a year into a grueling pandemic. Others are concerned that the change — which caught many by surprise — is coming far too soon.
And some employees are bracing for more conflict with customers over a new policy that relies on trusting that a maskless customer walking into a store is telling the truth about their vaccination status.
“It just makes the lives of all the retail workers harder, to have to fight with people over it,” said Paige Bissaillon, who works in retail at the H&M in the South Burlington University Mall. “It really does take a toll, and it is emotionally exhausting to have to fight with the customers so that you feel safe at your job.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the new guidance Thursday afternoon. Vermont officials followed suit during their weekly Covid-19 press conference the following morning, noting that more than 70% of eligible Vermonters are partially vaccinated, 51% are fully vaccinated and cases are on the decline.
By Friday evening, the City Market Co-Op in Burlington had dropped its mask mandate — despite a request from the union to keep the rules in place — after a “rise in altercations” at the front door in recent days, prompted by shoppers’ understanding of the new CDC guidance.
Grocery store union president John Donoghue had expressed to management that employees would prefer a universal mask policy until the CDC announces that unvaccinated people no longer have to wear masks, he told VTDigger in an interview earlier on Friday.
But employees were later notified in an email obtained by VTDigger that the store will be following the new CDC guidelines and allowing shoppers to enter the store without masks.
A number of employees are upset by the move, a City Market staff member told VTDigger. Donoghue said he previously hadn’t heard a lot of anxiety from employees because of a sense that management has prioritized safety, and he had expected City Market would continue with some mask rules.
“We are disappointed. This is not the result we expected,” Donoghue told VTDigger in an email Friday night.
According to the City Market email signed by General Manager John Tashiro, customers will be “strongly encouraged” to wear masks, but they won’t be required. Staff are still required to be masked at all times. Customers’ vaccination status is not addressed in the email.
“We recognize that the public is receiving messages at the state and national level that are in conflict with our existing policies,” Tashiro said in the email. “Over the past few days, we’ve seen a rise in altercations at the front door with our staff being put in the position of communicating a message that is at odds with what the public is hearing from the state and national leadership.”
A message sent to City Market earlier in the day was not returned.
On Church Street, Marc Bouchett said he was excited to hear about the mask policy change because it seems to indicate that the country is coming out of the pandemic.
As the co-owner of home decor business Homeport, he said he’s planning on following the CDC’s new guidance by allowing maskless shoppers and will post the directive on the front doors of his store. But if customers complain about the policy, he’s open to adjusting it.
“The science seems to be behind these guidelines,” he said, adding that he trusts Gov. Phil Scott and Department of Health Commissioner Mark Levine to make the right choice.
Other business owners are more hesitant. Sarah Beal, co-owner of artisan goods store Common Deer in downtown Burlington, thinks the new guidance is premature.
Most of her staff falls into the 18-34 age range, which was one of the last groups to become eligible for the vaccine and is currently the least-vaccinated age group in the state. While people age 65 and above are 90% vaccinated, only 43% of those ages 18-34 have received at least one dose.
Vermont has opened vaccine registration almost exclusively based on age-banding, and Scott did not allow frontline workers, such as grocery clerks and food service employees, advance eligibility in the vaccination timeline. So Beal’s employees who have received at least one shot still have to get another and won’t be fully vaccinated until mid-June.
“Just give us two more weeks,” Beal said. “That’s all I’m asking.”
“I’m super eager to see people’s smiles,” she said. “But I think we just have to realize that the reality is that the timeline for those to get vaccinated puts us at mid-June. And that’s for people who were able to get an appointment right away.”
Her store will require that all employees and customers remain masked for now.
Bissaillon, the H&M worker, said she’s already preparing for conflicts with customers over this new policy. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she’s had interactions with customers who refused to wear a mask, and she knows that some will lie about their vaccination status.
Bissaillon has felt supported by management when she’s asked customers to put masks on and she hopes that the store continues to support a universal masking policy until vaccination rates increase. But without the state’s backing, she’s worried people will be less likely to follow the rules.
Scott said at Friday’s press conference he believes that businesses can ask patrons to show their vaccine cards to prove their vaccinations, comparing the situation to “no shirt, no shoes, no service” rules. But he’s advocating for businesses to operate on the “honor system.”
Erin Sigrist, president of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association, said the group has been getting calls nonstop since yesterday afternoon from membership asking for guidance about how to approach this new policy.
How does Sigrist feel about the masking change, which she said came much quicker than she thought it would? “That’s a complex question,” she said.
She said the association will send out an alert to its members reminding them that their first priority under this new masking policy is to keep their employees safe. They’re encouraging employers to work with their staff to come up with a plan that keeps them feeling protected, which is especially important as Vermont and businesses around the country are seeing severe worker shortages.
Sigrist said she was surprised to see this policy change come so quickly at the federal level, especially as leaders are expressing concerns about low vaccination rates in other parts of the country due to vaccine hesitancy.
“But, you know, if that’s their decision,” Sigrist said, “we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that our members are comfortable running their business and keeping their employees safe.”
Clarification: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story was unclear on the percentage of Vermonters who have been partially or fully vaccinated.
