By Martha C. White - NBC News
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidelines on the use of masks, but that does not mean that stores and supermarkets will abide by them.
Thursday's announcement has put the troubled retail sector in the middle of the politicized battle over face coverings.
Phil Lempert, founder of the SupermarketGuru.com site, predicts that grocery stores will not stop imposing the use of masks, at least not on their employees.
"Retail stores are going to coerce, bribe bonuses, or pay their employees more to keep wearing masks," he said.
Union groups have criticized the CDC for suggesting that fully vaccinated people stop wearing masks, a
red flag for employees who would be at risk in the absence of an effective method
to determine who is vaccinated and who is not.
[Several states lift the mandate to wear a mask but others still doubt: how to know who is really vaccinated?]
The
United Food and Commercial Workers International union,
which represents supermarket workers, criticized the new CDC guidelines.
In a statement, he described them as "confusing" and assured that "their fault is not taking into account the impact on essential workers who are frequently exposed to unvaccinated people and who refuse to wear masks."
To wear a mask or not ?: there is confusion over the new CDC recommendation for vaccinated people
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The union expressed concern that workers face hostility from clients.
"Employees are already being forced to be mask police," the statement added.
"Now they are supposed to become vaccination police?"
"The CDC's announcement of the use of masks creates ambiguity among merchants because
it is not aligned with state and local guidelines
," said Lisa LaBruno, executive vice president of operations and innovation for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
"These conflicting positions put retailers in incredibly difficult situations."
In a more optimistic tone, Mathew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, also spoke about the enforcement of state-level ordinances on the use of masks.
Shay said in a statement that the new guidelines "will help open up the economy and get more people back to work."
According to Nick Shields, an analyst at retail investment firm
Third Bridge,
the CDC announcement has the potential to become a public relations minefield for stores, especially large chains and department stores. .
"They are going to be very cautious in the next two months in that regard," he said, adding that
stores will have to maintain a certain balance
so that their employees feel safe while pleasing their customers.
Shields predicted that changes to the mask use guidelines would lead to clashes where clients will confront unvaccinated workers to do so.
He added that wearing masks can become a habit that many will maintain.
"We may see employees wearing masks longer due to the large number of clients they are exposed to on a daily basis," Shields said.
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Perhaps out of concerns that employees will be impacted by the CDC guidelines, many retail chains have said they have no plans to immediately waive mask-wearing orders within their stores.
In this regard, the CVS pharmacy chain indicated that it "is evaluating it", but did not elaborate on its comments.
[These are the scientific reasons why the CDC eliminated the mandatory use of masks for vaccinated people]
"Target will maintain all coronavirus safety measures in our stores, including the use of masks and social distancing,
as we evaluate the new CDC guidelines
and re-evaluate the guidelines we have for our employees and customers," said spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo in an email.
For her part, Sheila Regehr, a spokeswoman for Kroger Co., said that her employees and customers will continue to wear masks.
He added that the company motivates its staff with a $ 100 bonus if they get vaccinated against COVID-19.
"We are reviewing our sanitary practices, the new CDC guidelines, and asking our partners for feedback to take them into account as a guide for the new phase of our regulation," Regehr said.
Maria Brous, a spokeswoman for the Publix grocery chain, said the company is "awaiting additional guidance before implementing potential changes."
