TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Mayor Regina Romero and local business owners are reacting tonight following the CDC’s updated mask guidelines.
While some business owners say these new guidelines won’t affect the way they run things, others say the constant changes are making it hard to keep up.
“There’s three different governing agencies that are telling us what we can do and none of them align perfectly,” said Ben Sattler the co-owner of The Drunken Chicken.
Sattler says he is frustrated with city, county, and CDC guideline discrepancies.
“It’s a big puzzle where none of them actually fit together and the last puzzle is the customer and we’re trying to make sure that they’re having a good experience here,” he told KGUN9.
So all employees there must wear masks, as for customers--
“We recommend that customers maintain their mask usage. However it has been put out there that if you are two weeks post your vaccine you don’t need to wear a mask inside or outside. So it’s kind of an honor system and we’re hoping our customers will be truthful,” he added.
Meanwhile, Danny Sawaya with Tucson Strength says the new CDC guidelines haven’t affected his gym.
“Nothing changed for our business. When the Governor dropped the mandate, so did we,” he said.
So for Sawaya, it’s been business as usual, though folks can opt to wear masks if they’d like.
“Our many big pieces of equipment are already spaced out six feet apart. We have tons of cleaning stations around the gym and we go through so much paper towel and disinfectant in this gym. It’s been pretty crazy,” he told KGUN9.
As things move more toward normalcy, Sattler hopes uniform mandates come with it. Mayor Regina Romero hinted just that ahead of the council meeting.
“I will be asking my colleagues on the council to end our mask wearing mandate so that we can all be on the same page in terms of following CDC recommendations. It’s time. I believe that because of the work for Tucsonans, we are where we are right now,” the Mayor told KGUN9.
She says she’s confident council members feel the same way.
