GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford County's indoor mask mandate goes into effect on Friday and businesses are preparing for it to return.
All businesses countywide must comply.
PurEnergy Health and Fitness made masks optional earlier this summer like many gyms. She said many of her customers are older and seem open to masking but admits it will be an adjustment.
"I hope we can take them off soon. I'm more comfortable working out without a mask on. Anybody is," Julie Luther said. "However, if you turn it down a half a notch, you can get through your workout. You can stay healthy."
Tal Blevins at Machete said returning to the mask mandate will not be much different than it was earlier in the pandemic. His restaurant will keep masks on hand for customers who do not bring them.
He still worries the requirement sends the wrong message to people who are fully vaccinated.
"We really feel like this is punitive to the people who have been responsible for the entire time the pandemic has been going on," Blevins said. "A mask mandate without a vaccination requirement is just kicking the can down the road. We gotta do something to take on the virus head-on and this mask mandate is just not it."
Blevins will not require proof of vaccination for his customers but he said he would like to see state or local governments take that step.
Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chair Skip Alston said earlier this week there are no discussions on requiring vaccinations for county workers but he would be open to it.
Some critics of the mask mandate include several Guilford County mayors. Summerfield Mayor BJ Barnes thinks it will be hard to enforce.
Businesses are subject to a $300 fine for the first violation, $500 for a second, and $1,500 for each additional violation that follows. You could even be fined $50 for not wearing a mask inside after an initial warning.
"I don't think it's going to have the results that they hope that it would have. I go back to when you start fining people and having some kind of punitive damage against them, I think there's going to be a real problem with that and an uprising," Barnes said.
The county said it will focus more on educating people about the importance of wearing a mask than punishing people who do not.
High Point May Jay Wagner said he thinks there is a better way to do that and to encourage people to get the vaccine.
"We need to be able to tell people this is your risk of being hospitalized with the vaccine and without it. This is your risk of dying with the vaccine and without it based on the actual numbers in Guilford County. Put that out there and let people make their own decision. It's a pretty compelling case," Wagner said.
County officials said they will re-evaluate the rule as needed. Their goal is a 70% vaccination rate or a percent positive rate of 5% or lower, for three weeks in a row.