Want to know where you’ll still need a mask in Dallas? City database is intended to help

Dallas residents can now check a new city database listing whether businesses are requiring masks for people who are inside.

The Dallas business mask requirements database launched Wednesday, hours after Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders lifting business occupancy restrictions and the state’s face-covering rule went into effect at midnight. The city is asking owners to fill out an online survey to have their businesses added to an interactive map displaying each business’s name, address, ZIP code and whether it is requiring customers and employees to cover their mouths and noses.

Abbott’s order bars any jurisdiction from imposing jail time and other penalties on Texans for not wearing a face covering inside a business. It also allows businesses to still require employees and customers to wear masks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical experts say mask use is one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Several cities, including Dallas, have imposed orders requiring that masks still be worn in city-owned buildings. In Dallas, those buildings include libraries, recreation centers, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and the American Airlines Center.

Austin officials say they will impose a citywide mask mandate.

An order that Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson signed Thursday, two days after Abbott announced he would lift all statewide COVID-19-related mandates, says that people who don’t have a mask, scarf, bandana, handkerchief or other covering over their nose and mouth can be barred from entering a city building or facility or ordered to leave.

“It is critical that we make informed decisions and stay on guard as we strive to reach herd immunity,” Johnson said in a statement. “This database will benefit businesses and provide a centralized resource for the people of Dallas as we continue our fight against this deadly virus.”

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the city’s new online database showed 14 businesses. The Dallas Morning News’ website, dallasnews.com, also has a list of nearly 200 Dallas-Fort Worth bars and restaurants that say they still require masks.

All but one of the 14 businesses in the city’s database said they would continue to require masks. Only Barnsco, a concrete construction business with branches in northwest Dallas, Austin, Farmers Branch, Fort Worth and Hutto, said masks would not be mandatory.

Dustin Sessums, the company’s director of operations, said workers and patrons can still wear masks if they choose to. The business will still take other precautions to slow the transmission of COVID-19, such as keeping up partitions to separate customers and employees.

“Up until this point, we’ve been following the statewide mandate, and we plan to keep following the game plan,” Sessums said. “After the governor’s order, we just saw no reason to keep requiring masks.”

Clyde Greenhouse, owner of Kessler Baking Studio in South Dallas, said his business would continue to require employees to wear masks in accordance with guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bakery, one of the 13 businesses in the database that say they will still require masks, isn’t letting customers inside, but orders have been fulfilled via delivery and curbside pickup.

Greenhouse plans to reopen to customers in June and probably will still require customers to wear masks, he said.

“We just think it’s the smartest thing to do to keep our team safe and our customers safe until everyone gets vaccinated,” Greenhouse said.

Independently of the database, large retailers such as Walmart and shopping centers including NorthPark Center have said they will keep mask requirements in place for workers and customers.

Nearly 4.7 million Texans — around 16% of the state’s 29 million population — have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and around 2.5 million — nearly 9% — have been fully vaccinated, according to state data as of Wednesday afternoon. Close to 390,000 have gotten at least one shot in Dallas County, and more than 218,000 county residents are fully vaccinated.

More than 44,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Texas.

The state announced Wednesday that Texans 50 and older would be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations starting Monday.

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