You are reading

Grocery Stores Should Require Customers to Wear Masks Inside Store: Mayor

Fresh N Save 46th and Greenpoint Ave. Sunnyside (Photo: QueensPost)

April 15, 2020 By Allie Griffin

New York City grocery stores should require customers to wear a face covering or mask while shopping amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said today.

“I’m giving the guidance to all supermarkets and groceries — require customers, require customers to wear face coverings when they come in,” de Blasio said at a press briefing this morning.

He said stores should put up a sign at the entrance requiring shoppers to wear a face covering in order to enter the store.

The mayor said every store has the right to make the requirement.

“That is legal and appropriate,” de Blasio said. “The City will back you up.”

Any customer who refuses to wear a mask can be denied entry into the grocery store and if there’s a problem with compliance, store employees can call 311 to have police officers come and assist them, he added.

“It’s the smart thing to do for the health of all New Yorkers and the City of New York will back you up.”

The mayor called grocery store workers the “unsung heroes in this fight.”

“These are folks just trying to make a living for their families,” de Blasio said. “They did not expect to be on the frontlines of an international crisis, but they’re acting with the same resolve and the same spirit as all our other heroes.”

He said New Yorkers owe a lot of appreciation and respect to the workers and their families.

“Let’s give a lot of appreciation, a lot of respect to the people who make sure we get fed,” the mayor said. “Those grocery store workers, those supermarket workers — they get up everyday, they go to work, it’s a tough job.”

The Mayor’s Office is also working with supermarket and grocery store companies to ensure store employees get PPE supplies, he added.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens Council Members celebrate $2.5 million in funding for AAPI curriculum

Jul. 3, 2025 By Shane O’Brien

Queens Council Members Shekar Krishnan, Linda Lee, Sandra Ung and Julie Won gathered on the steps of City Hall Wednesday afternoon alongside Manhattan Council Member Carlina Rivera to celebrate the “historic” $2.5 million budget investment to support the implementation of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history curriculum in NYC schools.

Forest Hills home invasion leaves man hospitalized after brutal assault and robbery: NYPD

Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills are looking for three suspects who beat and robbed a 28-year-old man during a home invasion on the afternoon of Saturday, June 21. The three intruders slipped into an apartment building at 102-40 62nd Ave. at around 4 p.m.

The perpetrators allegedly forced their way into the victim’s apartment, punched him repeatedly in his body with closed fists, and forcibly removed $60 in cash and medication before fleeing the building in an unknown direction, police said Monday. EMS responded to the crime scene and transported the victim to Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, where he was listed in stable condition.