As pandemic masking requirements end, some Lehigh Valley businesses are erring on the side of caution
Nestled in a small white house on Main Street, the close quarters inside Let’s Play Books Bookstore in Emmaus are part of its charm.
They’re also part of the reason why owner Kirsten Hess is asking customers to keep wearing masks, despite guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pennsylvania Health Department saying they’re no longer necessary for people who have had a COVID vaccine.
“We have 3,000 square feet but it’s broken up on three floors and seven rooms,” Hess said. “Airflow is pretty much non-existent inside the shop.”
Because many of her customers and employees have children who are still too young to be vaccinated, Hess said she decided to continue asking people to wear masks inside, and the response has been completely positive, she said.
“If we got a huge amount of pushback from our community, that’s when I would consider changing it, and our community is the opposite,” Hess said.
Hess is among a small number of business owners who have opted to continue requiring masks even as vaccination rates climb and life starts to resemble something like the pre-pandemic normal.
Infectious disease experts say that’s a reasonable decision given the multitude of variables that can affect people and populations differently in a pandemic.
“The message you have been hearing is that if you are fully vaccinated you can drop your restrictions and go about your business,” said Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, an infectious disease specialist at St. Luke’s University Health Network. “There are a lot of nuances that got lost.”
The CDC says fully vaccinated people can return to the activities they did before the pandemic without a mask or physically distancing unless it’s required by law or a business’s policy. Masks are still required on all forms of public transportation including buses, trains, airlines and in airports and stations. Hospitals and most health care offices also require masks. In Pennsylvania, the requirement to wear a mask in public ended Monday.
Many businesses have gone along with the CDC’s guidance and allowed customers and employees to stop wearing masks if they choose. At Redner’s Warehouse Markets, the company still provides masks for employees but does not require them to wear one, said vice president of human resources Bob McDonough.
“Internally there’s a group of staff members here that evaluates the guidance and we’ll collaborate and determine what’s in Redner’s Markets’ best interest and the best interest of our customers,” he said. “We trusted the states and the CDC.”
At Giant Food Stores, unvaccinated workers are required to continue wearing masks and signs in the store request unvaccinated customers to do so as well, a company spokesperson said. Giant and Redner’s both say they’re continuing enhanced cleaning and safety measures, such as plexiglass screens between customers and checkout clerks.
Many small businesses have also lifted restrictions.
At Apotheca Salon & Boutique in south Bethlehem mask-wearing became optional Monday. Employee Mason Henning said both workers and customers are welcoming the change. “If anything, people were demanding of it prior,” Henning said. “So, they are more than accepting now.”
Penny Caciolo said she took down the signs requiring masks at her Coopersburg ice cream parlor Inside Scoop on Monday. While staff who are not vaccinated still wear masks, the CDC guidance seemed clear, she said.
“I still have people that come in wearing them but at this point, it has become more a choice,” she said.
Others, like Let’s Play Books, have opted to continue requiring masks for the safety of their employees.
Dr. Randy Bimes, co-owner of Quakertown Veterinary Clinic, said he has employees who are unable to be vaccinated and physical distancing is difficult in small exam rooms, so pet owners must wear masks if they want to go inside.
“We certainly have employees who expressed concern about opening up too quickly to the public and having them enter the building without masks,” Bimes said.
He added that the business can’t afford to lose work hours to illness.
“Most people are very comfortable with it but occasionally some people resist,” he said. When that happens he offers to treat the pet curbside or take it inside without the owner.
Dr. Luther Rhodes, an infectious disease specialist at Lehigh Valley Health Network, said it’s understandable that people might want to continue wearing a mask even if they’re vaccinated.
“For folks that have spent a year and a half taking a lot of precautions that comfort zone doesn’t come back in one day,” he said.
Rhodes said that although he is vaccinated he carries a mask wherever he goes and said whether to wear one is a matter of common sense and a person’s comfort level. Putting on a mask in a crowded indoor space is prudent, given the emergence of mutant strains of the virus and new lockdowns in places like Sydney, Australia.
“There still is a potential for a change in what’s going on,” he said. “If there is a turnaround in Pennsylvania the outbreak will be first and sharpest with people who remain unvaccinated.”
For those who are vaccinated, the risk of going maskless is relatively low, Jahre said.
“If you’re in good health, you’ve been fully vaccinated, you’re in a safe area and the people you’re with are fully protected dropping the mask restrictions makes a lot of sense,” he said.
But there are caveats.
Jahre said it’s important to keep in mind that in Pennsylvania, only 60% of the population is vaccinated and in some parts of the state the number is much smaller. The vaccine is not available for anyone under 12 and it is less effective for people who are immunocompromised, such as those receiving cancer treatment or recovering from other infections.
Even people who are fully vaccinated and not immunocompromised can suffer mild symptoms or transmit the virus if they’re asymptomatic, Jahre said.
Jahre said epidemiologists have a poor understanding of how variants of the virus are spreading in the United States because not all cases are sequenced. St. Luke’s is working with a private partner to sequence more of the cases it sees, he said.
Jahre said among the breakthrough cases St. Luke’s has seen, each time the patient was infected with a variant of the virus. As more people get vaccinated, the rate of mutation and variants will drop, he said.
It’s still possible there will be another uptick in cases in the fall as cold weather returns and children return to schools, Jahre said.
“People need to pay attention,” he said. “This is a dynamic situation and the advice tends to change depending on how the disease progresses.”
Morning Call reporter Clare Fonstein contributed to this report.
Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581 or peter.hall@mcall.com.
