Should City Office Employees Remove Their Masks?

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This is a tough one.

The City of Lubbock has decided that masks are now optional for employees and folks visiting their facilities, according to their website:

Effective May 1, 2021, the City of Lubbock will remove mask requirements for staff and visitors at City facilities. Lessees of City facilities, such as the Civic Center and others, may establish their own requirements for attendees, and events that include at-risk populations will be evaluated on an individual basis. City vaccination clinics will still require masks.

I certainly understand where the City of Lubbock is going with this. At some point, rules need to be relaxed and we should get back to living. The problem is, when people have business with the city, it's usually something that has to be done rather than something that they could opt-out of until they feel safer.

Then there's the fact that City of Lubbock employees should serve as examples during this pandemic. I guess it's a matter of opinion on whether they should serve as examples for or against masks, but I think we trust the city to do the safest thing possible. Even though it may be time to take off our masks, it's certainly not the safest thing possible.

I guess I'm going to say that the jury is out on this one. I also have the leisure of not having to do any business with the city, so I don't have a dog in this fight. I still prefer to wear a mask in large groups of strangers just out of courtesy. I hope the city will make allowances for anyone who is not comfortable with mask optional city services.

Remnants of the 1970 Lubbock Tornado