Nirenberg Updates Emergency Health Declaration By Adding Mask Requirement For Businesses

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

June 17, 2020

SAN ANTONIO (June 17, 2020) — Today, Mayor Ron Nirenberg signed an addendum to his Eighth Emergency Health Declaration supporting and adopting Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff’s Executive Order NW-10 that requires businesses to develop policies that mandate the use of face coverings if people can’t practice physical distancing.

“The number of COVID-19 cases in our community has been increasing at an alarming rate, and health experts have emphasized that masks are our best line of defense,” said Mayor Nirenberg. “To win the fight against the coronavirus, it is essential that people in our community wear a mask when in close proximity to someone from outside their household.”

The mayor’s addendum adopts Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff’s Executive Order NW-10 as a supplement to his Eighth Emergency Declaration, which requires commercial entities dealing directly with the public to draft a health and safety policy that includes the mask mandate. Violators can face a maximum fine of $1,000.

The addendum also strongly urges that San Antonio businesses take the “Greater, SAfer, Together” pledge which commits businesses to health and safety protocols including physical distancing guidelines, temperature checks and other CDC recommendations.

City Council earlier extended the Mayor’s Eighth Emergency Health Declaration indefinitely.

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.