One Fresno store is actually turning away customers without face masks at the front door.
Plus, if you think you don’t need a mask in a fast-food drive-thru, think again.
Up until now, most stores were requiring just their employees to wear masks for health and safety in Fresno and Clovis.
That tide is now turning toward customers.

Petco is Where the Masks Go

GV Wire heard from at least one person on Facebook who says she was turned away and sent home when she tried going into Petco without a face mask.
GV Wire went by and found signs out in front of the store on Friant Road in north Fresno: “Attention Petco Guest, Face Masks are Required.” Signs taped to the windows echo what the sidewalk sign says.
A phone call to the store manager confirmed the mask requirement, but he couldn’t go into details, citing corporate policy.
GV Wire also called the Petco at Herndon and Clovis avenues and was told the same thing. No face mask, no admittance.
Petco corporate headquarters in San Diego sent a statement to GV Wire that reads in part, “Where local officials are requiring masks for store employees, we are, of course, complying. Further, since the CDC now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings, including essential stores like Petco, we’ve made masks available to employees in all of our stores, and are encouraging both our employees and guests to follow CDC guidance.”
Petco’s CEO, Ron Coughlin, has updated customers and company employees in a series of statements and Youtube videos. In the latest video, he doesn’t mention anything about customers having to wear masks. In one part of the video, he says, “So as we move forward we’ll continue to stay vigilant in protecting the health and safety of both people and pets.”
[covid-19-tracker]

At Jack in the Box, Masks Required (Encouraged)

A taped sign on the drive-thru menu at the Jack in the Box on Blackstone near Herndon reads, “Please wear a face covering prior to reaching our drive-thru window.”

Most of the customers GV Wire witnessed driving through did not have masks on.
We reached store manager Lisa Yang by phone and she said, “So, everybody that goes through our drive-thru, we would be very appreciative if they have a face mask, or gloves on, too, to help protect us and them from COVID-19.”
She added, “We do have a plastic cover on our drive-thru just to be extra safe if they don’t have a mask.”

Walmart Encourages Mask Use by Customers

Business Insider reports Walmart required its 1.5 million U.S. employees to wear face masks as of Monday. The memo said employees would be permitted to bring their own masks to work, as long as they met guidelines. The company is providing masks to workers.
“We will begin requiring that associates wear masks or other face coverings at work,” said the memo, which was sent by Walmart US CEO John Furner and Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay. “This includes our stores, clubs, distribution and fulfillment centers, as well as in our corporate offices. We’ll also be encouraging customers and members to wear face coverings when they shop with us.”
GV Wire called the Walmart Supercenter at Shaw and Brawley avenues, and the customer service representative verified they are not requiring customers to wear masks.

Other Fresno Stores

One GV Wire reader let us know about ‘Smart and Final’ stores having a new face mask requirement also. ‘Face coverings are required to enter Smart & Final stores’, reads part of their posted policy.
Sunnyside Bicycles co-owner John McCracken tells GV Wire’s Nancy Price that all customers coming inside his story must wear a face mask.

Los Angeles Urges Everyone to Wear Masks

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at the end of March, all 4 million residents performing essential tasks such as food shopping should wear homemade, non-medical face coverings, or even bandannas, as people in other COVID-19-struck countries have done.
Customers and visitors of those types of businesses or organizations must also wear face coverings. Business owners or operators have the “right to refuse admission or service to any individual who fails to wear the requisite face coverings.”

Face Masks Help Contain Droplets

The National Institutes of Health conducted an experiment and proved that talking emits droplets from your mouth. Loud talking generates even more droplets. These droplets can harbor infectious virus particles.
The scientists write, “The act of speaking generates oral fluid droplets that vary widely in size, and these droplets can harbor infectious virus particles.”
The size of the droplets was estimated from ultrahigh-resolution recordings. Video clips of the events while the person was speaking, with and without a face mask, show a stark difference.
You can watch a video of the experiment at this link.