ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson announced during her briefing on Monday, five businesses were in violation of the city’s face mask ordinance and social distancing guidelines over the weekend.
Krewson said the city visited about a dozen establishments over three days. Five letters are being sent out to those who violated the ordinance.
“People were not wearing masks. We know that because we had our folks in these clubs over the weekend. And so we are advising them that they need to shape up, follow the rules, and we'll help them do that if they're confused about what the rules are or what they need to do. We will be in direct contact with them,” she said.
The mayor announced ahead of time on Friday that city employees would be checking for compliance over the weekend.
“We never want to be punitive, but we do have to exercise some enforcement because wearing a mask is the critical thing to preventing the further spread of COVID-19,” Krewson added.
The City of St. Louis has seen a steep increase in the past few weeks of younger people testing positive for the virus. About 20% of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus are in their 20s and 17% are in their 30s, Krewson said.
On July 18, the city had 83 confirmed cases and 78% of those were people in their 20s and 30s, she said.
Krewson also said thank you to those who are wearing face masks, "I know that most of you are wearing masks because I'm out and about. Also, I'm always wearing a mask, even if I'm just walking down the street. I'm wearing a mask. I see when I am walking around that you're also wearing your mask. So please, if we can just get everybody do to do that all the time, that will be extremely helpful."
The face mask mandate went into effect on July 3, which requires people in public to wear a face mask.
The city's large entertainment venues will remain at current capacity limits of 75%.
