ROC-DC raises concerns restaurant workers may be ordered NOT to wear masks after DC reopening

It's official: many DC residents get their "back to work order" on Friday, May 29. Restaurants will be permitted to serve patrons outdoors. ROC-DC is raising concerns that owners will demand that "front-of-house" workers remove protective face masks for appearance reasons. In other words, a restaurant dinner with a side order of COVID-19 might be deemed an acceptable price of looking normal and higher profits.

What's next-will police return to demanding that protesters in public places remove masks too? It must be remembered that no matter who you are and no matter how much contempt you may have for your hired workers (or your enemies on the street), people have families and buy groceries. Anyone thinking they have the right to order people they don't care about to "drop their armor" by removing masks runs the risk that the resulting additional cases will eventually send the virus right back to them in person, via the grocery store or even subsequent interactions with the same people. A restaurant owner who orders his workers to unmask risks a cluster of cases among his staff, which in turn will expose the owner directly everytime he enters his own building. The extra profits from trying to "look normal" could come with the same side order of virus as the meals served at the offending restaurant.