PETERSBURG Chris Skordas wants to play it safe. Kimberly Ann Calos wants to go for it.
The owners of the Mad Italian Pasta & Steak House and Petersburg Pickers, respectively, show the connondrum over the new mask-wearing guidelines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, the CDC announced that anyone who is fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus does not have to wear a mask anymore indoors or out unless they are in close quarters with a large crowd.
The guidelines are not legally binding, and the only real way that masks can be legally ditched is for Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam to amend his emergency order requiring them. Northam said Thursday afternoon the new guidelines are under review by his administration and did not give a timetable for updates.