Some get early jump on Durham requirement to cover faces in public during pandemic
Effective Monday night, people in stores, on buses and in other places across Durham County where they cannot keep a safe distance from others have to have their faces covered to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Some people said Monday that they have been wearing masks in public for a while, while others said they started on Monday because they thought the new requirement was already in place.
"I know there’s been a lot of confusion about that, and I apologize. That’s my fault," Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said.
A news release on Friday announcing the face-covering requirement – one of several changes to the county's pandemic-related emergency order – noted that it took effect "Monday at midnight," and Schewel said he meant for that to be Monday night to give people extra time to prepare.
"Of course, when it comes into effect at midnight tonight, I’m going to do it," said Scott Brewer, who wasn't wearing a mask while shopping at a Harris-Teeter store in Durham on Monday.
"I started wearing it a couple weeks ago," said another Harris-Teeter shopper, who declined to give her name, who also was wearing gloves.
"We’re just trying to do our part and stay safe," said a mask-wearing Brian Massengill, who was shopping at Costco with his daughter, also wearing a mask. "You don’t know if you’re sick or not, so if you have your mask on, you’re just adding another layer of protection so that you don’t make anybody else sick."
Durham may be the first area in North Carolina with a mask requirement, Schewel said, although New York and other places hard hit by the virus also have such orders in place.
"There are a lot of things that we’re doing that have important negative economic consequences," he said. "Face coverings is a way that we can help slow the spread of the virus without any negative economic consequences, and it’s a way, as well as staying at home, that everybody can participate."
People don't have to cover their faces when they're walking outside for exercise or doing any activity where they can maintain at least 6 feet of separation from others, he said.
"If you’re going to be on a bus, if you’re going to be in a store, if you’re walking and you know you’re going to be in a crowded area, that’s when it’s really important," he said. "What we’re talking about here is not factory-made face masks. It’s face coverings. Anybody can do it."
T-shirts, bandanas or even large handkerchiefs can be used, as long as they cover the nose and mouth.
"We are not sending our police out to, you know, hunt people down and punish them for not wearing a face covering," Schewel said. "We really need people to comply voluntarily, and I believe that they will. It’s just super-important that people take it upon themselves to do this."
No one will be removed from or denied entry to public transit for failure to wear a face covering.
At a Sheetz gas station early Monday, half of the people there were wearing masks and half weren't.
"I look at it as it being for your safety, and the way the coronavirus is going, I pray that it will be over soon," Durham resident Eddie Johnson said. "But you do have people who are elderly, weak immune system.”
WRAL News reporters Kirsten Gutiérrez and Brett Knese contributed to this story.
