Please, wear a mask
Wednesday, Jun 24, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn…
“Wearing a face mask poses a health risk to me,” says a document circulating online that mask-phobes are urged to present to greeters, clerks or managers who try to enforce the requirement and block their entry from a store or other place of business. “Under the ADA and HIPPA (sic) I am NOT required to disclose my medical condition to anyone.”
The document goes on to give toll-free number to the U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA information line and to threaten violators with fines of up to $150,000.
It’s mostly nonsense. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) simply restricts disclosures by health providers. The ADA requires only that businesses provide assistance to people with disabilities so long as that requirement doesn’t cause undue hardships or pose a risk to the health and safety of other customers. Many stores will offer to shop for those who cannot shop independently and bring the merchandise to the door, for instance.
And if you don’t wear a mask, you’re clearly posing a health and safety risk to other customers and employees.
* How people think they can walk onto someone else’s private property and literally do anything they want is just beyond me…