BRADENTON, Fla. — Bradenton City Council voted Wednesday morning to require businesses to place visible signs on their doors to ask customers to wear masks when inside.
The vote was 5-0.
The emergency ordinance intends to educate and encourage the public to wear face coverings inside businesses, but it doesn't specifically force people to cover their faces.
Individual businesses still have the right to require masks if they want.
The signs will either have to advise patrons to wear masks inside or explain to them that the CDC recommends face coverings, especially when social distancing cannot be maintained.
If businesses don't post the signs, they could face a $75 fine. However, the city says compliance is the goal, so code enforcement officers will be equipped with signs in an effort to give every business the chance to comply.
The ordinance takes effect on Friday and expires after 60 days unless city leaders repeal or extend it.
There is currently no mandatory mask ordinance in place in Manatee County, although county leaders do recommend people wear them. However, several cities within the county have established mask orders in recent weeks.
In Anna Maria, people must wear a face-covering inside a public building unless they are able to properly socially distance. Children under two are exempt.
It went into effect on June 27.
Nearby, Holmes Beach also adopted an emergency mask ordinance, which mandates people must wear a covering inside a business when they cannot maintain social distancing.
It has been in effect since Sunday, June 28.
Longboat Key has voted 7-0 to approve a mandatory mask order, requiring people to wear face coverings indoors and outdoors in public areas where social distancing is not possible. The order lasts for 60 days, beginning July 3. There are exceptions for children ages 6 and under or for anyone with health conditions that may prevent them from wearing masks.
- Here are the reopening plans for Tampa Bay school districts
- Here's what to know about today's tax deadline
- Florida couple fined $2,000 for violating Canada's quarantine order
- Florida's recent record day for COVID-19 might not have been quite that high
- Shaquille O'Neal stops to help woman after tire blows on I-75 in Florida
- Doctors call on community to slow COVID spread as hospitals see increase in patients
- Florida reports 133 more COVID-19 deaths, adds 9,194 confirmed cases
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter
