'Respect Goes Both Ways': Denver Businesses To Enforce Face Coverings Order

DENVER (CBS4) - Everyone three and older is now required to wear a face mask outside their home in Denver when they are unable to maintain a safe distance from others. Those who have medical conditions preventing them from being able to wear a face covering are exempt from the order.

This raised questions about enforcement as well as the tough political tightrope businesses would be forced to walk as they balance safety and serving their customers.

Here are questions CBS4's Joel Hillan asked of the Denver City Attorney's Office and their replies:

• What's to keep everyone who doesn't want to wear a mask from saying, "I'm medically exempt?"
  • Nothing, but we hope that everyone comes together in this very important way to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus in public settings, especially in those settings where social distancing is difficult or impossible.
• Because of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), are businesses allowed to ask for verification?
  • The order does not require a member of the public to provide verification that wearing a face covering would inhibit the person's health before entering a business.
• Can businesses deny entry to customers who do not have a mask even if they are able to present a doctor's note?
  • Businesses must take all reasonable steps to prohibit any member of the public who is not wearing a face covering from entering. However, if the person claims they are not wearing a face covering because doing so would inhibit the person's health, the order does not require the business to exclude the person from entering.  The business may decide how it wishes to proceed in those circumstances.

It became clear from the exchange that the onus will be on businesses to enforce the order.

"It's going to be very, very hard for us to police this by ourselves," said Nate Weir, Vice President of Culinary for Modern Restaurant Concepts.

"We're asking our hourly team members to go into work and to face wave after wave of customers and guests who are coming in to visit and that's a lot for them to take on," he said.

Weir says Modern Restaurant Concepts is not going to kick customers out for not complying with the mask order, but they are doing all they can to protect employees by providing them proper equipment, changing the flow of customers and providing protective barriers.

"You know, respect goes both ways. I think there are very good reasons for why people should be wearing masks, and taking all kinds of other common sense precautions that go far and above wearing masks, but ultimately, we're not going to be able to tell people how to behave, we want to model good behavior," said Weir.