Maskless Guests and Required Verification of Vaccination Status!

We were all taken by storm when Governor Brown announced fully vaccinated people were no longer to wear masks in public spaces, on the heels of the CDC announcement. Restaurant owners and workers jumped for joy, and then got a little worried. How is this really going to work and how do we enforce this new law?

The full executive order can be reviewed here.

To print this sign go here

The new Oregon guidance states:

• Individuals in Oregon are no longer required to wear a face mask or physically distance, whether indoors or outdoors, two weeks after their final COVID-19 vaccination dose. A “fully vaccinated individual” is a person who has received both doses of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or one dose of a single-dose vaccine and at least 14 days have passed since the individual’s final dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

• However, fully vaccinated individuals are required to continue wearing a mask and observe physical distancing on public transportation and in schools, hospitals and clinics, homeless shelters, youth and adult correctional facilities and long-term care facilities.

• Businesses, employers and faith institutions can choose to no longer require masks and physical distancing for fully vaccinated individuals or continue to require masks and physical distancing in their locations for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status.

• If a business, employer or faith institution chooses to no longer require masks and physical distancing, the business, employer or faith institution must require visitors to show proof of vaccination and review the proof of vaccination. In that case, a business would need to have a policy for checking the vaccination status of customers and employees if they are not wearing masks. Fully vaccinated individuals would need to provide proof they’d been vaccinated if they want to remove face coverings and not observe physical distancing guidelines.

Under the updated guidance, people who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to wear a mask indoors, in most public settings where vaccination status is checked. In public settings where vaccination status is not checked, masks will still be required.

In addition, state health experts announced that face coverings are no longer required outdoors (regardless of vaccination status).

Statewide, masks, face coverings or face shields are required to be worn by all individuals at all times unless the individual:

• Is fully vaccinated, UNLESS the individual is in: any setting where the owner or operator continues to require masks, face coverings or face shields in accordance with the Statewide Mask, Face Coverings, Face Shields Guidance.

Individuals should be aware that some businesses, events or facilities may require more stringent mask or face covering requirements and may exclude from their business, event or facility those individuals who, regardless of their vaccination status, fail to comply with those requirements.

Reach out to your health inspector with any questions.