Don't throw your mask out just yet: Confusion in NC as some stores require masks, others don't

Many stores and restaurants are allowing people to leave their masks at home – but many others still require masks.

Navigating our way through the reopening is confusing. Right now, in North Carolina you don’t have to wear a mask if and only if you’re fully vaccinated.

But how can you really know the person standing beside you has truly been vaccinated?

"Unless there’s something that people carry around that’s issued and says 'I’ve been vaccinated and therefore I’m allowed to go here,' there’s not really a good way to prove it," said one concerned customer.

With only 36% of NC population fully vaccinated, shoppers split on whether to unmask

On Monday Governor Roy Cooper talked about some of the confusion associated with lifting the mask mandate.

"There are a lot of unvaccinated people who have been wearing a mask, because that's what the law told them to do. And some of them now may not," he said.

Mask rules are now left up to the individual business.

Local restaurant owner Greg Hatem will continue to require masks at his eight locally-owned restaurants. It’s a policy he says won’t change until the vaccination rate does.

"Because if we don’t reach herd immunity we are just going to end up thinning the herd," he said. "People are still getting sick people are still dying from this disease."