City of Victoria Mayor Rawley McCoy signed an order June 25 requiring all businesses to implement health and safety policies, including the use of facial coverings in situations where social distancing is not possible, and requiring all people to wear facial coverings inside City facilities.
The order states that every commercial entity that provides goods or services directly to the public must develop a health and safety policy for employees and customers to follow. At a minimum, employees and customers must be required to wear facial coverings “when in an area where six feet of separation is not feasible or performing an activity which will necessarily involve close contact or proximity to co-workers or the public,” according to the text of the order.
A business may also voluntarily include additional measures in its policy, such as temperature checks or health screenings for employees or customers. The policy must be posted in a conspicuous location so that it will be visible to employees and customers, and the business must begin enforcing the policy by 8 a.m. Monday.
Starting Monday, City employees and members of the public must wear facial coverings at City-operated facilities. Anyone not wearing a face covering may be denied entry or removed from the facility.
In compliance with Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order signed June 3, no individual will be fined or punished for failing to wear a mask. However, businesses that fail to comply with the new local order are subject to a fine of no more than $1,000 for each day that they are in violation of the order.
To view the full text of the order, visit www.victoriatxoem.org.