DC's Face Mask Order Applies to Everyone...Except Gov't Employees

Brittany M. Hughes | July 24, 2020
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The D.C. mayor’s most recent ordinance mandating the wearing of facemasks in public applies to…well, pretty much everyone.

Everyone, that is, except government employees. 

The lengthy mandate, implemented on July 22 and covering a multitude of illogical dos-and-don’ts (you must wear a mask while distancing from others on the patio of a public swimming pool, but you don’t have to wear one when you’re crammed up near them in the water, for example), specifically carves out “persons in the judicial or legislative branches of the District government” as a special segment of society not required to wear a face mask while at their jobs.

“The enforcement provisions of this Order shall not be applied to persons in the judicial or legislative branches of the District government while those persons are on duty; and shall not apply to any employees of the federal government while they are on duty,” the mandate states.

Masks

If you’re an otherwise ordinary person working in an office, however, you are mandated to wear a mask at work – unless you’re eating, drinking, or sitting in an enclosed office alone. Then the ‘rona can’t get you, or others, apparently.

If you're a business owner, you must, by mandate of the government, "exclude or attempt to eject persons who are not wearing masks or who remove their required masks," and you must also, on your own dime, make masks available to your employees. 

While you must wear a mask while distancing from others at a swimming pool, you don’t have to wear a mask while “vigorously” exercising – i.e., huffing and puffing like a freight train – outdoors, provided you’re at least six feet away from others. You also must remove the mask if someone “lawfully” asks to remove it for “facial recognition purposes.” 

 

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