One street, two cities and the struggle of a new mask order
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As Kansas City businesses on Monday began to grapple with a new indoor mask mandate, business owners and managers along U.S. 40 Highway in eastern Jackson County are trying to understand the effectiveness of Kansas City’s new rules.The mask requirement affecting the Tool Shed Lounge in Kansas City, Missouri, is much different than a mask recommendation at Fun House Pizza and Pub just three minutes down the street in Independence. “I feel like you have to be fair,” said Kimberly Pendergist, manager at the Tool Shed Lounge. “At this point, you’re not being fair to Kansas City.” Pendergist said she recognizes that COVID-19 is real. But if one county or city does not require masks, workers like Pendergist at businesses along borders are left to explain and plead with customers to wear them, even though just feet away in another town they are not required. “Kansas City is going struggle again while everyone else probably thrives,” Pendergist said, pointing out a bar just a block away along U.S. 40 in Independence that won’t require masks. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas reinstated the mask mandate last week in response to growing cases of COVID-19 in the area. The indoor mask order will be in effect for all persons aged 5 and older, regardless of vaccination status in places of public accommodation, effective at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 2 through at least 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28.Independence leaders stopped short of a mask requirement only recommending them inside. At Fun House Pizza and Pub, owner Tina Rushton and her employees wear masks. “We’ve been very cautious here,” she said. But since her business is technically inside Independence, masks are only recommended. She said she is struggling to understand the effectiveness of Kansas City Missouri’s mask mandate, especially since not everyone in the Kansas City metro area is following those guidelines. “It’s not going to do any good, in my opinion, because all it’s doing is taking away revenue and business from Kansas City,” she said. You can learn more about Kansas City, Missouri’s mask mandate, here.
As Kansas City businesses on Monday began to grapple with a new indoor mask mandate, business owners and managers along U.S. 40 Highway in eastern Jackson County are trying to understand the effectiveness of Kansas City’s new rules.
The mask requirement affecting the Tool Shed Lounge in Kansas City, Missouri, is much different than a mask recommendation at Fun House Pizza and Pub just three minutes down the street in Independence.
“I feel like you have to be fair,” said Kimberly Pendergist, manager at the Tool Shed Lounge. “At this point, you’re not being fair to Kansas City.”
Pendergist said she recognizes that COVID-19 is real.
But if one county or city does not require masks, workers like Pendergist at businesses along borders are left to explain and plead with customers to wear them, even though just feet away in another town they are not required.
“Kansas City is going struggle again while everyone else probably thrives,” Pendergist said, pointing out a bar just a block away along U.S. 40 in Independence that won’t require masks.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas reinstated the mask mandate last week in response to growing cases of COVID-19 in the area.
The indoor mask order will be in effect for all persons aged 5 and older, regardless of vaccination status in places of public accommodation, effective at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 2 through at least 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28.
Independence leaders stopped short of a mask requirement only recommending them inside.
At Fun House Pizza and Pub, owner Tina Rushton and her employees wear masks.
“We’ve been very cautious here,” she said.
But since her business is technically inside Independence, masks are only recommended.
She said she is struggling to understand the effectiveness of Kansas City Missouri’s mask mandate, especially since not everyone in the Kansas City metro area is following those guidelines.
“It’s not going to do any good, in my opinion, because all it’s doing is taking away revenue and business from Kansas City,” she said.
You can learn more about Kansas City, Missouri’s mask mandate, here.
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