Collected Item: “Corporate Mask Mandates Not Being Enforced in Oklahoma”
Give your story a title.
Corporate Mask Mandates Not Being Enforced in Oklahoma
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
text story
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
I live in Oklahoma and there is currently no statewide mask mandate, nor has there been one since the business shutdowns started in March. When businesses such as Walmart and Walgreens began mask requirements, I assumed this would be at least a barrier of protection for those of us that wear masks. In Oklahoma City and Norman, both nearby larger urban cities, there are city mask mandates. These seem to be somewhat enforced in the stores and very few people are seen not wearing a mask in those cities. In nearby, more rural areas, such as Newcastle. Walmart began store or corporate mask mandates that forced customers to wear a mask. The door's entry was blocked by a guided entry path that led shoppers past a store employee that handed out masks for those that did not have one. This seemed to be a fairly good deterrent for those that avoided masks. By July I was noticing that customers took masks, but then later threw them in the trash. Employees were not enforcing the masks and some customers were avoiding those that didn't wear masks. In September we entered the Newcastle, Oklahoma Walmart and noticed that the entry had changed and Walmart was no longer acknowledging people that did or did not wear masks. By the beginning of October, as COVID-19 cases were reaching high daily numbers in Oklahoma, Walmart customers in Newcastle were now increasingly shopping without masks. My girlfriend and I used to count the number of people that didn't wear masks, it was a mental note of whether things were improving or dissolving. Now, we count those that wear masks. The number that wear masks are consistently lower, than those without. We have been to Walmart more than once since first of October where we were two of less than ten shoppers that had masks. The numbers seem to be on the decline and Walmart is not enforcing its own requirements. The last time we need products from Walmart, we decided to go to Walgreens in Newcastle instead since it was less crowded. There were only a five to six other customers besides us, but we were the only two wearing masks.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#Walmart, #mask, #mandate, #Oklahoma, #HSE, #ASU, #RuralVoices
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Clinton P. Roberts
Give this story a date.
2020-10-12