Weary US businesses confront new round of mask mandates

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Businesses large and small, from McDonald’s and Home Depot to local yoga studios, are reinstituting mask mandates as US coronavirus cases rise. Bars, gyms and restaurants across the country are requiring vaccines to get inside.

After a largely mask-free summer, it’s a reversal no one wanted to see, brought on by the fast-spreading Delta variant and new guidance from the US Centres for Disease Control. But business owners and workers say they will do what they can to keep their doors open and not slow the economic gains of the last few months.

“We’ve already been through the worst of the challenges when we shut down the indoors last year,” said Brack May, the chef and owner of Cowbell, a New Orleans burger joint. “Let’s just get ahead of the curve here.”

Read the full AP story here.

This July 28 file photo shows a sign on the door of a hair salon informing patrons that masks are required to be in the business in Kansas City, US. — AP
This July 28 file photo shows a sign on the door of a hair salon informing patrons that masks are required to be in the business in Kansas City, US. — AP

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