Businesses are getting ready for the indoor mask mandate

Businesses in the Capital Region are getting ready for the indoor mask mandate that goes into effect Monday.

Marianne Barker is one of the co-owners of Impressions of Saratoga, which is a gift shop. She knew with the rising COVID numbers, a mask mandate would most likely be coming. She says her business is ready.

They have a sign that will be up in front alerting people they have to wear a mask. She says everyone will be required to wear a mask regardless of their vaccination status. She believes it will be too hard to police who is and is not vaccinated.

"Our major concern right now is just people coming from out of state, which this time of year, we have a lot of, you know, coming from different states and what not, that they might not understand the rule in New York now. So, we’ve been trying to figure out how to navigate that," said Barker.

While Barker had mixed feelings about the mandate herself, she believes it was the right thing to do.

Jason Pierce is the owner of The Copper Crow and president of the Albany Restaurant Association. He is not in favor of the mandate, but understands why it was put in place.

He would like to see Gov. Hochul make some clarifications. At a restaurant you have to take off your mask to eat. Pierce says because of how the mandate was written, it means you have to be fully vaccinated to eat inside a restaurant.

"I think some clarification would be nice. I think there are individuals, especially children for instance, who can’t be vaccinated right now. Are they not allowed in restaurants?" said Pierce.