METAIRIE, La. —
Businesses in Jefferson Parish are preparing to welcome customers -- but only if they wear a mask or another face covering.
The mandate goes into effect Wednesday.
It comes after the parish has seen an increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases. The parish now has nearly 9,500 cases, according to Louisiana Department of Health numbers released Tuesday.
“As we can see, one bad weekend where people are lax, people go to bars, people go to parties is pushing us back tremendously and I'm so disappointed with the numbers we're seeing this week,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said Monday in announcing the move. “So that is why I'm taking this action.”
Parish employees will visit businesses reportedly not in compliance. Those reports, which can be anonymous, will come from people who file them with the parish by calling the Jefferson Parish COVID Compliance – See It, Say It hotline at (504) 736-6929 or by visiting www.JeffParish.net.
Businesses will get an official warning after the first visit. Citations will be issued to businesses that continue to not be in compliance.
Nicole Dorignac, who operates her family grocery on Veterans Boulevard, said she welcomes the mask mandate and hopes it keeps customers safe.
“With the parish behind us it's going to help us be able to enforce mask-wearing and it's going to help all the other businesses in the parish who have been having this struggle about mask-wearing -- or not mask-wearing,” she said.
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