COLLEYVILLE, Texas — Business owners were nervous ahead of opening Wednesday, as the state’s mask requirement and capacity limitations were lifted, according to the Texas Restaurant Association.
Governor Greg Abbott announced the changes last week, while also paving the way for business owners to set and enforce their own COVID-19 policies. The mandate was lifted Wednesday, March 10.
“Restaurants and our employees were eager and a little trepidatious about today,” said Kelsey Erickson Streufert, of the TRA.
The TRA recently updated its guidance ahead of the new policies.
“There’s a set of commitments we ask restaurants to make to their customers and employees and there’s also a set of commitments we ask customers to make to the restaurants when they choose to come in and guide there,” said Erickson Streufert.
The TRA is encouraging its members to display this document at entrances, which asks customers to follow protocols and instructions from restaurant employees, and show respect to the staff and to have patience and grace in the next phase of reopening Texas.
“There’s jerks out there in the world,” Erickson Streufert said. “We encounter them every day of our lives, and so we are talking to restaurant operators to be prepared for that, and just make sure you’re talking to your employees and they know what to expect.”
Isolated confrontations have been reported in other parts of the state, but things were relatively quiet in Colleyville during the lunch hour.
It’s a city that’s been at the center of the mask mandate conversation since last summer, when mayor Richard Newton said the city would not enforce a mask order from Tarrant County.
He later said the city would comply with an order, from the governor’s office.
Now that Abbott’s order is lifted, Newton said the city's mask requirements are a matter of choice for businesses, and encouraged residents to respect it.
“Businesses may choose to require customers to wear a mask,” Newton said in a post to the city’s Facebook page. “Let’s all show each other grace during this transition time.”