First, there is actually no health risk to wearing a mask. Your state provides exceptions. These exceptions most likely apply to machinery in the environment, not individual health risk, even though the language indicates otherwise.Your state also requires written justification. I'll see if my state requires it.
From Ohio's (your state) Department of Health website:
Q: Are there exceptions?
A: Yes. Employers and employees are not required to wear face coverings if it is not advised due to health reasons, against documented industry best practices, prohibited for a specific position by law or regulation, or a violation of a company’s safety policy. A face covering also is not required if an employee is working alone in an enclosed workspace or if there is a practical reason one cannot be worn. If any of these exceptions apply, written justification must be provided upon request.
Surely you don't believe that half the employees are exempt from wearing a mask because of a health concern. And if they were exempt from wearing a mask, why were the masks on but over the chin?, which is completely useless?
Second, there really are not health issues that preclude wearing a mask. It does not restrict oxygen supply or diffusion of carbon dioxide away from the person. If masks cause health issues, what about the health care environment, with its PPE and procedures for taking care of infected patients and in the OR?
Is it snitching to call out systematic violations of state health department policy? Of course not.
It's interesting that you felt the need to respond to me and that you're lecturing me on my state's requirements as if I don't already know them.
I've watched my state's daily press conferences since March. I'm well aware,
much more than you are, of my state's requirements for wearing a mask.
The part you've quoted above is as they intended. It does allow for individual health risk, as well as industry safety and health risk. Your
opinion of my state's mask-wearing requirements is not based on the facts as presented by my state governor and Lt. Gov.
DeWine & Co. talked about the mask requirements over several press conferences. I've posted on this forum about them as the whole saga was unfolding in Ohio in late April (masks being required for everyone, then masks only being required for employees, then exceptions being made because mask wearing is prohibited by law under certain working conditions including - but not limited to - industrial settings and for persons who have health conditions where wearing a mask can make someone ill). I've watched as DeWine flip-flopped, backtracked, whatever you want to call it, and pushed Lt. Gov. Husted to respond to the reporters grilling him over the issue. Here's the proof (employee requirements start at the 2 min. mark of this 6 min. video):
As far as your
opinion that there are no health issues that would prevent someone from wearing a mask, it's quite easy to find from several sources via a Google search that mask wearing isn't recommended for people suffering from breathing problems, like pulmonary conditions. Asthma and COPD are sometimes specifically mentioned. I have no conditions that prevent me from wearing a mask, so I can't offer an opinion on the accuracy of that. I've had an elderly fellow shopper comment to me that wearing a mask makes it quite difficult for her to breathe after a few minutes. I didn't ask her to give me her health history to prove it.
I'm not a know-it-all or a mind reader, but I'd agree that it's unlikely that several employees stocking shelves, or whatever they were doing when you saw them, all have health conditions or that the working conditions allow for them to not have had their masks pulled up, unless the air conditioning happened to be broken at the time.
Last week when I was at a grocery store, a young man was stocking paper towels. He had his mask on correctly. A middle aged older woman a few feet away from him was writing something on a clipboard. She had her mask down around her neck, like you're describing. She started coughing, noticed me, and hurriedly pulled her mask up over her face.
At this same store, most employees wear their masks properly. What I saw is a rare outlier and I know that. I've seen the employees pull their masks down temporarily when they need to talk to each other for job related purposes, then they pull them back up. It can be hard to understand someone with the mask up and with ambient noise. I've been asked to repeat myself with my mask up, if I have to ask a question of an employee.
I've chosen to not report employees who don't have their masks up. I'm not following them around all day to know what the reason is, how long they have their masks down, if it's sanctioned by management, or the industry standards. What could be the consequences of reporting it? At the least, the employees are reprimanded and watched more carefully. Maybe that's what you're hoping for. At the worst, the health department shuts the store down for violating the state mask policy. Yikes, I certainly don't want that to happen to a grocery store!
If I'm concerned enough, I'll do what I need to do for me. There are other options, as you well know. Shop at another store. Do curbside pickup. Shop online. I'm not interested in being the "mask police".
