GREENFIELD — Requirements for masks and social distancing in public places are expected to be lifted on May 29, as Gov. Charlie Baker has announced a plan to end the COVID-19 state of emergency by June 15. But are local businesses ready to drop their own rules on masks?
“Absolutely. We’re going to ditch the masks as soon as we can,” said Bill Baker, owner of Baker Office Supply on Main Street in Greenfield. “I think it’s time to lose the masks. I’m not feeling that it’s unsafe.”
Other business owners said they feel similarly, but they also noted they might proceed with caution, and might be slower to completely move on from all of the public health practices they employed in the pandemic.
Baker mentioned that his store had installed plastic barriers in front of the cash registers, and that he will probably keep those in place for the time being.
“I think (the barriers) just might be healthier,” Baker said. “This whole past winter was probably the healthiest I’ve been.”
Foster’s Supermarket, a locally owned grocery store on Allen Street in Greenfield, also expects to stop requiring customers to wear masks once it’s no longer legally required, said co-owner Matthew Deane.
Deane said he feels it is safe enough, as vaccines have become easily available.
“I think, at this point, anybody who wanted to get vaccinated has been vaccinated. It’s not like it’s hard to get now like it used to be,” he said.
Foster’s, like some other grocery stores, had run a seniors-only shopping hour each morning for the pandemic. Deane said he expected the store would cancel that also.
Greenfield Cooperative Bank, which has branches in Franklin and Hampshire counties, also expects to drop its requirements for masks, said CEO Michael Tucker.
“We don’t want to be overbearing. The science seems to say that the vaccines are working,” Tucker said.
But the plastic barriers and hand sanitizer dispensers that have been installed in the bank branch lobbies will probably remain for the time being, he added.
“It’s all a question of comfort. Those are easy. They’re in place,” Tucker said. “I’m hopeful, but I don’t think things will ever be 100 percent back to normal.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.