Name: Businesses can still legally require masks
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Businesses can still legally require masks

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Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales on Monday said business owners can continue to ask customers to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, even after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided to lift the statewide mask mandate.Requiring masks would be no different than refusing service to customers who don’t wear shoes and a shirt, if that is a store policy, Gonzales said.But Gonzales cautioned business operators against engaging in confrontations with people who refuse to wear masks and refuse to leave, and instead to call authorities and let them handle it.THE DOCKET:If “you come in to patronize a restaurant, a bar, a grocery store, and they ask you to put on a mask and you refuse, then they can call the authorities and at that point, they can ask the police to give you notice to depart,” Gonzales said. “And if that individual (does not) depart, then the officer has the discretion to make an arrest for criminal trespass.”Gonzales said he was “not aware of any incidents” in Bexar County where anyone has been arrested for trespassing for refusing to wear a mask since the statewide mask order began last summer.He said is office is prepared to back businesses if there are incidents after the mask mandate is lifted on Wednesday.“We will certainly look at each case on an individual basis, but if we believe there is probable cause to believe a crime occurred, even a crime like this of criminal trespass...yes we will prosecute it,” Gonzales said.He said trespassing — depending on the severity of the incident — can be charged as a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail and a maximum $2,000 fine, or a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.“I would encourage our friends in the business community to do it as peacefully as possible — again, request that an individual wear a mask and if he or she refuses I would suggest that you call the authorities,” Gonzales said. “Let the professionals handle it. Do not take the law into your own hands.”guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales on Monday said business owners can continue to ask customers to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, even after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided to lift the statewide mask mandate.Requiring masks would be no different than refusing service to customers who don’t wear shoes and a shirt, if that is a store policy, Gonzales said.But Gonzales cautioned business operators against engaging in confrontations with people who refuse to wear masks and refuse to leave, and instead to call authorities and let them handle it.THE DOCKET:If “you come in...

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Guillermo Contreras

expressnews.com

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Businesses can still legally require masks

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