Most major retailers and many other businesses in the Chattanooga area have relaxed their mask policies this week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are safe not to wear a mask in most indoor settings.
Local shopping malls, most government offices, drug stores and supermarkets have all dropped mask requirements. Food City began displaying signs Thursday that “smiling faces are welcome” for those who are vaccinated in its 136 grocery stores. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga issued a policy on Tuesday to allow students and staff to quit wearing masks in classrooms and offices if they are fully vaccinated.
Signs encourage those who are not vaccinated to wear masks, but the stores and UTC are not checking for whether unmasked people are vaccinated or not.
The evolving policies for masks and social distancing have left some workers and shoppers confused about whether to continue to wear facial coverings and how to socially interact with one another as vaccinations rise and the pandemic eases.
“It’s been a weird transition because you’ll see some people wearing masks and some people going maskless,” said Mallory Crook, a recent UTC anthropology graduate who now works as a special collections student assistant at the university library. “It’s confusing in social settings because you don’t know if you should still wear a mask or not, and I’m not sure in my own mind what to do sometimes.”