BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — In the past 24 hours, both College Station and Bryan have passed orders requiring that masks be worn inside local businesses.
What exactly does that mean and are the orders exactly the same?
“We are just at that cusp, we see the numbers going up, and we wanna keep this communities economy going,” said Bryan Mayor Andrew Nelson.
Both College Station and Bryan businesses must require their customers and employees to wear masks.
Businesses also must have signage of that policy where it can be easily seen outside.
In public places, outside of businesses, city leaders are mandating 6 feet of separation or wear a mask if that’s not practical or possible.
So basically, as Mayor Nelson noted, "you have to maintain six feet of separation or wear a face covering where you cannot do so.”
One difference between Bryan and College Station’s mask orders is College Station will place a $1,000 fine on businesses who violate their order and the City of Bryan will not.
“That is not to fine the business for the action of the customer. It’s to fine the business for lack of taking its own action on guidelines that businesses are required to do,” said College Station Mayor Karl Mooney.
In either city, businesses will have the right to show you out if you’re not wearing a mask.
The Bryan mask order is effective Tuesday, June 30, 2020 and will stay effective until rescinded.
The College Station mask order will last until Friday, July 10, 2020.
Mayor Nelson said, “if we wanna keep our community and society functioning and not just sheltering, we need to do everything we can to slow the spread.”
Earlier today, the City of Bryan sent out a survey about face coverings.
74 percent of those who answered said they were in favor of masks.
You can find that survey below: