Per an order from Mayor Adler, all Austin businesses will be required to ensure that all workers and customers wear face masks or other face coverings. This order is supplemental to Adler’s earlier orderswhich the City extended to Aug. 15. The current order was set to expire on June 15.. This mask requirement goes into effect on June 18 lasts until August 15.
The order says businesses must develop and display a health and safety policy that requires a face covering while on the premises. Businesses have until June 23 to create and display this health and safety policy. Adler noted in his remarks that many Austin businesses have already implemented mask requirements for their employees and customers. This is a transition to a more “direct order on masks” does put the onus on businesses to enforce mask wearing on their premises, which will likely prove to be burdensome for some. For businesses who were already requiring face coverings under their own volition, this change provides a city-wide order to point to as back up if they are ever faced with resistance from the public.
We at AIBA are here to help locally owned business navigate any issues that arise and get them the support they need to make the new order work with their reopening strategies. Please reach out if you encounter any issues.
There are some exceptions to the order. A mask is not required when:
- You are alone in a single, separate space
- You are among people of the same household
- You are eating or drinking
- You are outdoors engaging in an allowed activity with social distancing
- Wearing a mask poses a safety or health risk