On May 18, Gov. Kate Brown offered Oregon businesses a choice not available anywhere else in the nation: They could allow vaccinated patrons not to wear their masks—after checking vaccine cards at the door.
Two weeks later, the verdict is clear: a resounding thumbs down. Not a single major retailer or venue in the Portland metro area has taken Brown up on the offer.
Business owners don’t want to ask for proof.
“I just don’t believe that it’s a private citizen’s responsibility to ask another private citizen anything to do with their health,” says Rep. Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles), who owns Maupin’s Stoves & Spas, which sells wood stoves, hot tubs and barbecues. “Most people believe that they’ve got that right to privacy. You’re putting that frontline worker in a really awkward spot with some people that are very passionate on both extremes of this issue.”
In all, 31 states no longer require anyone to wear a mask indoors, if they ever did. Four states still require masks for everyone. But Oregon appears to be the outlier among the 15 remaining states that require masks indoors only for the unvaccinated.
In the other 14 states, masking up is based on an honor system. That’s what federal officials proposed, too. Only Oregon required businesses to card people.
Read full story here: Source: Oregon Tried to Innovate a Policy for Determining Who Still Has to Wear a Mask. It Bombed. – Willamette Week