Tulsa Health Department: Businesses should refuse service to people not wearing masks

The Tulsa Health Department says businesses should be encouraged to not serve customers who aren’t wearing masks.

THD Executive Director Dr. Bruce Dart held another weekly news conference with the City of Tulsa, saying a mandatory mask order might not be too far off if cases continue to spike.

Dr. Dart says this is “the new normal” and people should get used to wearing a mask in public areas.

“We strongly recommend businesses requiring close customer-employee interaction to refuse service to customers who do not wear masks,” Dr. Dart says.

“Any time you are around people who do not live in your home, you need to wear a face covering.”

The Tulsa Health Department says it will recommend the city does begin mandating masks in public places if COVID-19 cases don’t start to go down in the immediate future.

“If we continue to see an exponential rise in cases, which we frankly expect over the next few days, I will be asking our local mayors and city councils to make face coverings mandatory,” Dr. Dart says.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said during last week’s news conference that he would only mandate masks in Tulsa if Dr. Dart recommended it to him.