ODH issues warnings to 23 businesses for violations of retail mask compliance order

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Department of Health issued warnings to 23 businesses in the state last week for violations of the retail mask compliance order, according to data released by the department Thursday.

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The 23 new warnings was a jump from the previous week where only one business received a warning from the ODH and compliance unit. However, the number of warnings issued represents only one percent of all the businesses observed so far in the state by the compliance unit.

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None of the businesses observed by the compliance unit have been ordered to temporarily close.

A first violation of the 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.

Last week, the compliance unit visited 1,831 businesses in 83 of the 88 counites in Ohio. The unit observed just over 93 percent of customers wearing masks while inside the retail locations, which is near the cumulative percentage for the entire state.

Over 94 percent of businesses had employees properly wearing masks, and nearly 99 percent had proper signage placed to remind customers to wear masks.

The new data was released on the state’s Retail Compliance Unit dashboard, which launched last week. Data uploaded to this dashboard is updated every Thursday.

Cox Media Group