Mask Or Vax: Newton-Needham Chamber Surveys Local Restaurants

NEWTON, MA — The Newton-Needham Regional Chamber has released the results of a survey for which they asked restaurants in Newton, Needham, Wellesley, and Watertown how they feel about mask and vaccine mandates.

Out of the 44 businesses who responded to the email poll, 36% are or will soon require all employees to wear masks and 11% are or will soon require all customers to wear masks when dining indoors, said the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber in a news release Friday.

The responding restaurants were less sure about requiring vaccines, with 31% requiring all employees to be vaccinated and only 9% requiring customers to be vaccinated when dining indoors.

As far as local mask mandates go, it is split down the middle, with 34% of the restaurants wanting local officials to require customers to wear masks indoors and 34% not wanting a mask mandate. Opinions on vaccine mandates show similar numbers, with 34% wanting a local vaccine mandate for indoor dining customers and 32% not wanting a vaccine mandate.

The most agreement seen in the survey is how these businesses feel about a state mandate, with 39 percent wanting the state to implement an indoor dining mask mandate and 43% not wanting a statewide mask mandate.

For more details on the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber's restaurant survey, click here.