Many Columbia restaurants aren’t sold on face masks, despite rise in COVID-19 cases
Despite record numbers of positive coronavirus cases being recorded in the Palmetto State, including 799 new cases announced Sunday, Columbia-area restaurants are split on whether to require their employees to wear masks.
Since S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster reopened dining rooms May 11, he and health officials have urged restaurants to take abundant precautions, including wearing masks. But they are not required to do so.
On Wednesday, he reiterated that recommendation, but acknowledged many establishments are not taking that advice seriously.
“There’s a lot of stupid floating around out there,” he said generally of people not abiding by health officials’ recommendations. “There’s a lot of reckless and careless activity.”
The State last week randomly visited 12 locally owned restaurants in and around downtown Columbia. Fewer than half required their employees to mask up.
However, nearly all of the restaurants had taken other precautions, such as marking tables for social distancing and removing salt and pepper shakers and condiment bottles in favor of individual packets. Several had hand sanitizing stations. Others posted menus rather than handing them out.
But the precautions varied widely.
‘We have to be safe’
Shortly after noon Monday, June 8, at The Original D’s Restaurant & Bar in Cayce, a crowd of about 30 people was enjoying lunch at the restaurant, known since 1988 for its wings, seafood and steaks.
Tables were marked for social distancing. But patrons at the bar, apparently unrelated, sat nearly elbow to elbow. Salt, pepper and condiments were provided in communal shakers and bottles when requested, however they were sanitized between customers, Stephanie Smith, general manager, said.
Only one of the employees was wearing a mask.
After a second visit by The State Thursday, a D’s manager said that servers are not required to wear masks, although he noted that masks are available for customers if requested, and tables are sanitized after each seating.
Smith said that wearing masks is the individual server’s prerogative because it is not required by law. But “it’s something to talk about going forward.”
Owner Billy Rentz added that if mandated by “the governor or CDC or DHEC we would do it.”
A block and a half away at the Lizard’s Thicket restaurant on Knox Abbott Drive, all the employees were wearing masks. Salt, pepper and condiments were delivered in individual packets or plastic deli cups.
“We have to be safe,” said Bobby Williams, owner of the Midlands’ chain of 14 country-cooking restaurants.
‘If it were mandated . . . we would’
Beyond Lizard’s Thicket and D’s, The State’s visits showed that:
▪ Employees were wearing masks at Cantina 76 on Main Street, Market on Main and No Name Deli on Elmwood Drive.
▪ Employees at The Kingsman Restaurant in Cayce, La Brasca’s Pizza on Fort Jackson Boulevard and Rosewood Dairy Bar, Eric’s San Jose and Dano’s Pizza on Rosewood Drive were not.
The State reached out to the restaurants where employees were not wearing masks.
Carla Anderson, a manager at Dano’s, said employees were asked to wear masks and didn’t know why they weren’t when The State visited. “It’s something we need to do better,” she said. Since this story was first published, The State reached out to owner Dan Scheel. Scheel said that all drivers, servers and bartenders are required to wear masks when they are within six feet of customers and can only remove them when outside of that distance. Cashiers, however, are not required to wear masks when they are answering the phone behind plexiglass shields.
A shift manager at Eric’s San Jose also said employees were supposed to wear masks during peak times and someone would call back with an explanation. A manager at The Kingsman said it wasn’t required by law and someone would also call back.
Amanda Crocker, general manager of Rosewood Dairy Bar, noted that orders are served to-go at the drive-in and employees are separated from customers by the glass windows.
Brett Wilson, owner of La Brasca’s Pizza, noted that the restaurant requires all customers to sanitize their hands when entering the dining room, booths are distanced and sanitized after every customer, salt and pepper and condiments are dispensed in packets and menus are posted in the booths rather than handed out.
Some employees do wear masks at times, he said, and all would “if it was mandated by the governor.”
No public backlash?
For Ricky Mollohan, owner of Mr. Friendly’s Southern Cafe in Five Points and Solstice Kitchen in northeast Columbia, the new COVID-19 numbers are “mind-blowing.” And restaurants that are not conforming to health officials’ recommendations are being irresponsible, he said.
“I absolutely believe masks should be mandatory for staff,” he said. “I don’t want to judge anybody for the decisions they made, but these are regulations that benefit any business. It’s not a question of which safety precautions we are taking. We should take all of them.
“I can’t believe there hasn’t been more of a public backlash,” he said.
The lack of masks at restaurants is disconcerting for Becky Libby, a South Kilbourne neighborhood resident. She has health issues and has mostly self-quarantined since mid-March.
“I’m very leery about going anywhere or doing anything,” she said. “I know it’s up to the individual restaurateur or business owner to control this thing.”
Corporate businesses seem to be requiring employees to wear masks, Libby said, but many small businesses aren’t. Whether employees wear masks speaks to a business’s values, she said; it sends a message about how they care for her well-being as a customer.
“You would think the small businesses in town would be going out of their way to do whatever they can to get customers back,” she said. “But it’s the opposite.”
‘We’ve gone way overboard’
Williams, who also is the board chairman of the S.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association, said there are several reasons some restaurants aren’t following health officials’ recommendations to wear masks.
One is political. “A lot of people believe this whole thing is overblown,” he said.
That is true for John Beier, a Hollywood-Rose Hill neighborhood resident. He’s not a restaurant owner, but believes calling for everyone to wear a mask is “silly.”
“I think we’ve gone way overboard on the whole thing,” he said, “and I don’t feel at all unsafe about walking around without a mask. I’m certainly not reluctant to go any place.
“I think people are being silly,’” he added. The virus “is not food-borne. . . . I just think it’s so overdone. If you’re that scared, then don’t go out.”
Discomfort is another reason for restaurants not to require masks.
“Everybody is short-handed, and it’s hot,” Williams said. “It’s unbearable for someone in the kitchen. It’s over 100 degrees and hard to breathe.”
Jessica Ellis is a bartender at Pasta Fresca in Forest Acres. The restaurant requires all employees to wear masks and have their temperature taken when they arrive for work, she said.
”I also wear gloves and change them frequently,” she said. “Like, I’m almost neurotic about it.”
Ellis said wearing a mask “kind of sucks, but that’s tough. You have to keep people safe. I’m proud to work for a place that is taking all the proper precautions.”
She said that cloth masks are more comfortable. “I’ve got customized ones with cute patterns on them.”
Williams also said masks could make it more difficult for servers and bartenders, who depend on tips, to interact with their customers.
Ellis, however, disagreed.
“I don’t feel like it does,” she said. “I’ve learned to smile with my eyes.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 1:20 PM.