SPOKANE, Wash — Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced Thursday that starting next Tuesday, all businesses in the state will need to require their customers to wear masks.
If they don't turn away people without masks, the businesses could face fines or revocation of their licenses.
Mark Richard, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, told KREM there are mixed feelings about the order from local business owners. But he says those feelings don't matter as much as simply staying afloat in a historically difficult economy.
"Each and every business is needing to reopen, many of them are struggling," he said. "I think regardless of our own personal reservations about the data, about whether this is necessary, I think the fact is we need to honor it in order for these businesses to survive."
Many Washingtonians, even those uncomfortable with the idea of a mask mandate, have essentially taken the position that it's a relatively small price to pay to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and keep the economy open.
"If people care about local businesses, they care about the folks that are employed there, frankly we're just going to have to buck up and mask up," said Richard.
Inslee, in his announcement, said that in most of Washington the mask-use rate is already high. Richard says just in the last week or so, he's seen it grow locally as people adjust to the new norm.
"I think we're going to see that compliance continue to grow," he said.
And for people who are still upset by the order, local businesses say: don't take it out on us, take it up with the governor.
"This business is not the one giving this order, this business is not the one that's requiring this," said Richard. "They're simply trying to stay open. They don't want to be shut down by our government."