TRENTON-If you don’t already have a way to cover your face, you better think twice about trekking out to the grocery store, because as of now, in New Jersey, you won’t be provided entry.
That’s because of another executive order signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy requiring all shoppers to cover their faces while shopping.
According to Murphy’s executive order 122, New Jersey now requires workers and visitors to wear cloth face coverings, in accordance with CDC recommendations, while on the premises, except where doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or the individual is under two years of age, and require workers to wear gloves while on the premises.
Businesses must provide, at their expense, such face coverings and gloves for their employees. If a visitor refuses to wear a cloth face covering for non-medical reasons and if such covering cannot be provided to the individual by the business at the point of entry, then businesses must decline entry to the individual.
Nothing in the stated policy should prevent workers or visitors from wearing a surgical-grade mask or other more protective face covering if the individual is already in possession of such equipment, or if the businesses is otherwise required to provide such worker with more protective equipment due to the nature of the work involved. Where an individual declines to wear a face covering on the premises due to a medical condition that inhibits such usage, neither the business nor its staff shall require the individual to produce medical documentation verifying the stated condition.
In some stores, on Friday, customers were being turned away for not having face coverings.
“Attention New Jersey Customers: An Executive Order issued by Governor Murphy mandates that all customers wear a cloth face covering while shopping. Please make sure you bring your own to wear next time you visit our store. A bandanna or scarf works in a pinch,” was a message posted on ShopRite’s Facebook page along with a PSA flyer saying, “NJ Executive Order requires all customers to wear a face covering while shopping.”
Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska