Everyone wants to keep COVID-19 deaths to a minimum. Many people also want to re-open the economy so that workers can earn money for food, medicine, and shelter, and so that consumers can meet their needs for goods and services.

Consider this: stores could modify the signage out front to say: “No Mask, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service!” This would help make the opening safe. It would be inviting to careful shoppers who avoid stores with unmasked customers. And it would be legally defensible — our governor has granted stores the ability to deny service to unmasked people.

Going unmasked is like smoking. Some people may not care about the risks, but doing it in public buildings right now is unacceptable because it is potentially deadly to others.

We are already strict about no-smoking policies in restaurants and stores. We should likewise have zero tolerance for unmasked store patrons.

Let’s do this to allow people to put food on their table while continuing to beat COVID-19 into retreat.

David Anderson

Danville