COLUMBUS — An additional 35 businesses were issued warnings by the Ohio Department of Health’s Retail Compliance Unit for violations of the mask compliance order, according to data released by the ODH Thursday.
>>PREVIOUS REPORT: ODH issues warnings to 23 businesses for violations of retail mask compliance order
The number of businesses warned was a jump from the 23 that received warnings the previous week. Since tracking began in the last week of November, 68 businesses have been warned, however that only represents around one percent of all businesses observed by the Retail Compliance Unit.
None of the businesses previously warned have been ordered to temporarily close.
A first violation of the mask order results in a warning for a business, according to the ODH order. Repeat violations result in the business being forced to close immediately for up to 24 hours to allow any airborne COVID-19 droplets to dissipate.
The compliance unit visited 3,088 businesses across all 88 counties in the state with 94 percent of customers observed to be properly wearing masks. This is above the cumulative percentage which stands at 93.6 percent.
Over 96 percent of businesses had proper signage for wearing masks while inside, and over 94 percent of businesses had employees properly wearing masks.
The new data was released on the state’s Retail Compliance Unit dashboard, which launched two weeks ago. Data uploaded to this dashboard is updated every Thursday.
Cox Media Group
