Mask rules spark debate, contention for some in Greater Lansing

Kyleigh Kunkel worried about wearing a face covering to work about a month before her employer, Peckham, Inc., made them mandatory.

In early April the Lansing-based nonprofit vocational rehabilitation organization, which provides training and work to people with disabilities and other barriers to employment, began suggesting people working in its facilities wear face coverings.

Kunkel, who works behind a sewing machine at Peckham's Charlotte location, knew it was an impossibility for her.

Face coverings exacerbate her anxiety and PTSD, she said, two conditions she's been diagnosed with, and her doctor has advised her not to wear them.

"I told them at work that I can’t physically or mentally handle a mask," Kunkel, 26, said. "I hyperventilate, I can’t breathe, and my chest feels like somebody is sitting on me. All I can picture is being suffocated.”

At the end of April, Peckham put a temporary face covering policy in place that requires them. Kunkel has been told she can't report to work without one on. She plans to apply for leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act. She's having trouble getting approved for unemployment, but is still trying.

"It's scary," Kunkel, who has two small children, said. "I'm going on three weeks without any money."

Masks or other face-coverings have been required in public enclosed spaces state wide since April 26. Businesses have adopted policies requiring their employees and customers wear them, but those who violate Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive order are exempt from any criminal penalty.

Businesses are left to decide whether they will enforce face covering policies when someone comes in without one. Some do, while others don't.

In Greater Lansing there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer for how residents feel about face masks. It's complicated.

Some say they're a valuable tool in protecting themselves and loved ones from coronavirus. Others cite skepticism about their effectiveness in controlling the spread of COVID-19, health issues that prevent them from wearing them and concerns that complying with the state order violate their personal freedom. 

Medical issues stand in the way for some

When she shops at grocery stores in Charlotte, Kunkel said "more than half" the customers inside aren't wearing face coverings, despite signs displayed at the front entrance that indicate they are required of everyone.

She's brought that up with her supervisors at Peckham.

"Why do I have to wear one here?" she asked them.

Kunkel said Maria Medina, a vocational services specialist at Peckham, urged her to speak with her doctor and look at alternative face coverings she might be able to wear at work, but that she would have to wear one to work in her position there.

Kunkel said Medina urged her to apply for leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act, something she's in the process of doing.

Medina told the State Journal she can't discuss a specific employee's situation.

Shavonne Lewis, senior outreach and brand manager for Peckham, and Lorely Polanco, Peckham's director of marketing, cited confidentiality and said they can't do that either.

The nonprofit’s face covering policy is based on CDC and health officials' recommendations and is in place to create a safe working environment, Lewis said.

"We are requiring all essential workers that work inside a Peckham facility to wear a face covering while they’re working," she said. "They can remove it when they are eating and drinking, and they can remove it when they leave."

The nonprofit works with its employees if they can't wear face coverings, Lewis said, allowing their removal “only in very specific situations” like when they work in an office by themselves. 

"I believe there are different options that have been discussed with team members who have concerns," Lewis said. 

"They just want me to wear a mask and that’s it," Kunkel said.

Retailers weigh policy enforcement

Jamie Robinson wants employees at all three of her Mason area businesses — Bestsellers Books and Coffee, The Vault Delicatessen and Darrell's Market & Hardware — to make sure customers are wearing masks when they come in.

Signs notifying people of the policy requiring them are posted at Robinson's businesses and staff point them out when someone comes through the doors without a mask on.

"The first door that you come in carries a sign saying ‘We require you to wear a mask,'" she said. "If you’re medically unable to do so we say, 'Stay here. What do you need? We’ll go get it for you.'"

Staff have stopped customers at the door who aren't wearing one and they've asked them to leave when they refuse to put one on, Robinson said.

"Very few just aren’t wearing them, she said. For those who aren't, "We pretty much tell them, 'We don’t need you to come into our store.'"

Some retailers aren't enforcing face covering policies posted at their entrances. 

Dan Dunn, store manager at Horrocks Farm Market in Delta Township, said the store's employees wear masks and many customers do too, but there are shoppers who don't. Staff don't approach them about it, he said. 

"We're not making a big issue of it," Dunn said. That stance was an ownership decision, he said.

Meegan Holland, vice president of communications and marketing for Michigan Retailers Association, which has 5,000 members with 15,000 storefronts and websites, said the face covering requirement has put stores in a difficult position.

"The owners are of two different opinions," Holland said. "Some are just absolutely adamant that they are not going to let anyone in the store without a face mask. There are others who are worried for their employees in a different way."

There's are risks in approaching customers in a store who aren't wearing masks, she said.

"I think some store managers have said ‘I’m not going to put my employees in that position. It’s not safe for them and they aren’t paid enough for that,'" Holland said.

DeAnna Ray-Brown's dessert food truck, Everything is Cheesecake, was closed for more than two months in March because of the pandemic. 

When it opened again last month, Ray-Brown let her customers know they needed to wear face coverings when they came to buy cheesecake. Her daughter, 13, runs the cash register, she said, and her son is immune compromised. People Ray-Brown knows have died from COVID-19, she said. 

Enforcing face coverings is one way Ray-Brown aims to treat her customers the way she would want to be treated.

"Working with food you really have to be cautious," she said. "I thought people would appreciate that we’re taking into account their well being as well as ours."

At Grace Boutique in Lansing's Old Town, a few of owner Summer Schriner's staff members are immune compromised.

Her boutique is still only offering curbside service. They will reopen in-store shopping slowly, Schriner said, but enforcing face coverings will be part of their practice.

She said she expects some amount of push back, but her staff will respond to that, first and foremost, with honesty.

"I think we’re just going to be prepared with the reason why," Schriner said. "We need to protect ourselves and our clients."

Opinions on masks vary

Bob Anderson, 55, who lives in DeWitt, uses hand sanitizer after he leaves a store and frequently washes his hands but he doesn't wear a face covering inside them.

"I’m not pish-poshing the whole thing," Anderson said. "I’m being careful."

Masks are uncomfortable and when he's worn one, Anderson said, he touches his face more frequently than when he isn't wearing one. He doesn't believe they're effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19.

"I don’t think a mask is the answer," Anderson said. "No one’s shown me any proof of that."

Robin Freed, 43, of Eaton Rapids said the contact she has with other shoppers and staff in stores is brief, not long enough to risk exposure to coronavirus. She would wear one at a salon though, were exposure would be more prolonged, Freed said.

It isn't that she doesn't have any regard for store policies, Freed said, but she believes brief contact with other people carries with it a very low risk.

"I don’t object to masks," she said. "I have no hard feelings toward anyone who wears one. I don’t wear one because of looking at the simple science of things."

She hasn't been approached by store staff or other shoppers about coming in without a mask, Freed said

"There are a lot of people wearing masks and there are other people not wearing masks," she said.

Jennifer LoTempio, 42, of Delta Township, won't go into a store without a mask.

Her husband James rarely wears one in a store and said personal freedom is a factor in his decision not to, but Jennifer LoTempio always wears one.

Her son Danny, 6, has Trisomy 18, also known as Edward's Syndrome. He's immune compromised, she said, and keeping him healthy is important. Wearing masks helps do that, she said.

When the pandemic first reached Michigan, LoTempio said it angered her to see other people without masks in enclosed spaces. Now, with coronavirus cases declining, she simply avoids people who aren't wearing them when she shops.

"I keep my distance if somebody doesn’t have a mask," LoTempio said. "It’s their right not to wear one, but it’s also my right to stay 20 feet away from them versus 6."

Face covering requirements aren't simple for everyone, Kunkel said. She wants to go back to work, but can't.

"I’m so eager to go back," she said. "They won't let me in the building without one (a face covering), but a mask is not an option for me."

Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.