After weeks of confusion and contradiction, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Cal OSHA agreed and confirmed that fully vaccinated workers no longer need to wear a mask at work unless employers say otherwise.
In the Bay Area, malls, restaurants, bars and grocery stores all show a mix outcome when it comes to current employee masking policies. Some employees still had their mask on either because their bosses requested it or by simple choice.
At Friends Book Store in Pleasanton, all employees have to be vaccinated to work there and therefor no longer need to wear a mask.
"Generally, people are happy to be maskless - finally," said store manager Bob Goldner. "Almost all of them go maskless. They're very comfortable with it. Most of them have been vaccinated for quite a period of time now.
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At a Safeway in Pleasant Hill, all workers had masks on. However, a company spokesperson told NBC Bay Area fully vaccinated employees are no longer required to wear one.
At Sun Valley Mall, "face covering required" signs are still up, but will be taken down soon.
At a BJ's restaurant at the same mall, employees no longer need to be masked. On the contrary, Lucille's Smokehouse Barbecue at still asks employees to mask-up no matter what - at least for now.
California
Other businesses told NBC Bay Area they expect their stores to mirror state guidelines soon. Many are making sure unvaccinated customers know masks are still required inside some stores.
Friends Bookstore volunteer, Rai Trujillo, said he'll make a decision about mask-wearing if someone seems anxious or if things get crowded.
