Mask requirements good news for Beaufort Co. hospitality workers, restaurant owners say
With Beaufort County and its towns all passing ordinances that require people wear face coverings in commercial buildings, local restaurants are grateful for one extra level of protection for their employees and guests as COVID-19 courses through South Carolina.
Without the law, “it would have been impossible to enforce masks on our customers because it’s just been so divisive,” said Andrew Carmines, owner of Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks on Hilton Head Island, which closed its indoor dining section Sunday. “Now there is an ordinance that makes it much easier to enforce it. Almost every customer has been wearing a mask.”
As of Saturday, masks are required in Beaufort, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, Port Royal and unincorporated Beaufort County.
Although they vary in their specifics, all ordinances except one make clear that restaurant-goers must wear masks at all times, except when eating or drinking. Port Royal’s mask ordinance does not specifically mention eating or drinking.
The ordinances pose restrictions and penalties for restaurants as well as individuals. In Beaufort County and the City of Beaufort, restaurant workers must wear masks when working near the public or other workers. In Bluffton, they must wear masks when working near the general public, and in Port Royal, they must wear masks when having face-to-face interactions with the public. If a restaurant in one of these municipalities has repeated violations of the ordinance, they may get their business license revoked or be subject to legal action.
At Hudson’s, where Carmines said the staff has always been wearing masks, there is a possibility that indoor dining might reopen if case numbers decrease, the staff feels comfortable and customers follow the mask ordinances.
“[The mandate is] progress, and I think everybody feels that way,” Carmines said of his staff. “Making it a mandate makes everybody a little more aware that we’re living in a pandemic, and that awareness to me is the most important thing. We’re not living in normal times.”
Clayton Rollison — the owner and chef of Lucky Rooster Kitchen and Bar and Lucky Rooster Market Street on Hilton Head Island — said the ordinance is better late than never. His Kitchen and Bar closed last week for a deep clean and will not reopen until after Labor Day.
“This ordinance wasn’t about the hospitality workers being safe, this was about public outcry, and the beneficiary of this was the hospitality workers,” Rollison said. “How it got done, why it got done was irrelevant, I’m just glad we can protect as many people as we can.”
Rollison said he hoped those who entered his business treated his employees with respect, noting that while the pandemic may seem like a conspiracy to some, it is very real for others.
“The small acts of kindness have been thrown out the window,” Rollison said. “That’s what it is to be ‘Island-strong’ — It’s not caring more about a turtle than the person standing next to you. It’s both.”
