Mecklenburg County considers program to help businesses deal with COVID mask mandate
Mecklenburg County might start a program to help businesses enforce Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide mask mandate, County Manager Dena Diorio said at a business roundtable meeting Tuesday.
Diorio said Cooper’s June 24 executive order requiring face coverings to be worn in public to help fight the spread of COVID-19 doesn’t have a lot of good enforcement language, which presents problems for law enforcement.
Some businesses in the Charlotte area have said they will not enforce Cooper’s coronavirus mask mandate, such as Lowe’s Home Improvement. The home improvement chain cited concerns for worker safety for why it would not enforce the mandate, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Diorio said she is working with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the sheriff’s office on strategies they can use to encourage the mask mandate.
Diorio said some counties, like Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County, have created “ambassador” programs to help businesses comply with safety policies. She said these ambassadors are non-law enforcement people who go out to businesses and provide them with educational materials.
“You go into the business, help them assess what’s going on and give them information about what they need to do to be safer” about both enforcing the mask mandate and looking to improve social distancing, she said.
Diorio said she will be making a recommendation for an ambassador program to the Board of County Commissioners Wednesday night.
She said she’d like to have people from various communities in Charlotte involved in the program, including those who are bilingual.
Mohammed Jenatian, president of Charlotte’s Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, said he thinks the ambassador program is a good idea because many businesses feel that the county is trying to find out what they are doing wrong rather than helping them.
“We need to let all businesses know that the county is on their side, not against them,” he said.
