Dec 22, 2020 1 min read

I feel badly for the restaurant and bar owners. I feel badly for their employees. They keep saying that they are doing everything they can to protect their employees and customers and feel they are being singled out as compared to other businesses.

At first I thought perhaps they were right and they were being treated unfairly. But then I thought: Where is the one place people go where they must take off their masks? To a restaurant or a bar! You should not have your mask off at any other store. I even have my mask on when I get a haircut. So, no matter how far you may social distance, those particles coming out of your mouth as you eat, talk and laugh with one another are being spread into the air. You cannot know if they impact someone at another table, an employee walking by or, even worse, spread on the food someone is about to be served.

I do not have the answer. I wish I did. But restaurant owners thinking they are above the law and endangering others is simply not the answer.

Gary L. Ford

Washington