Visitors play at a craps table at the Bellagio’s casino on June 4 in Las Vegas, the first day many of the city’s hotels and casinos reopened.
Photo: Bridget Bennett for The Wall Street JournalBusiness executives and front-line workers are pushing government officials to require customers to wear masks, a step that could allow companies to avoid alienating a portion of the public.
As coronavirus cases surge around the U.S. following reopenings in numerous states, public-health experts and many in the broader public consider the face coverings essential for slowing the spread of the new coronavirus. An equally vocal group opposes mask requirements because they think they curtail personal liberty or for other reasons.
Rules vary by state and even by municipality, and some executives have said the issue would be simpler if governments ordered them to require masks, so they could tell reluctant customers that they are simply abiding by regulations.
Las Vegas casino workers on Monday called on Nevada’s state leaders to require casino customers to wear masks, which have been encouraged but optional since Nevada allowed gambling to resume starting June 4.
Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer of the 60,000-member Culinary Union Local 226, said in a press conference that bartenders, porters, guest-room attendants and other hospitality workers want to avoid the risk of infection as they interact with guests.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak told Vice President Mike Pence in a conference call with governors on Monday that Covid-19 diagnoses have been rising in part because of “people not wearing masks and not following the social protocols,” according to a transcript released by the governor’s office.
Mr. Sisolak’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Nevada Gaming Control Board declined to comment.
Gov. Sisolak on Friday said via Twitter that he had asked the state’s medical advisory team to “evaluate potential options for enhanced face covering policies.”
Nevada already requires gamblers at table and card games to wear face coverings if there is no shield or partition between the dealer and each player, and to make masks available to all guests.
Gambling giants are taking a typically Las Vegas approach to encouraging mask use. Caesars Entertainment Corp. is providing $20 in free play for its reward members who wear masks at slot machines, the company said.
Virginia Valentine, president and CEO of the Nevada Resort Association, said casinos on the Strip “are providing masks to guests with a strong encouragement, and in some cases incentives, to wear them in public spaces where not required by the Gaming Control Board.”
Being identified as the site of a Covid outbreak could create major headaches for any business—but so could an outcry from members of the public opposed to wearing masks. Senate Republicans have sought to include in stimulus legislation liability protections for businesses where customers or workers contract the coronavirus.
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Airlines implemented mask requirements for travelers nearly two ago. But enforcing them has sometimes proven tricky.
All major U.S. carriers, including United Airlines Holdings Inc., American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co., have since May required customers to wear masks during flights. In announcing JetBlue Airways Corp. ’s mask requirement, the airline’s president and chief operating officer, Joanna Geraghty, called face coverings part of a “new flying etiquette.”
Some airlines say they don’t want flight attendants to escalate conflicts with passengers who remove masks during flights. A federal requirement that passengers wear masks in flight would make it easier for airlines to enforce their policies, according to some airline executives and union representatives.
“If the government were to mandate it, I think that would help,” Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in an interview with Axios. “If the government mandates it, then you can enforce it.”
Recently airlines have said that customers who refuse to comply with mask edicts after repeated warnings could be barred from booking future flights.
Large retailers mostly require workers to wear masks, but only a handful are requiring shoppers to do so, including Costco Wholesale Corp., which offers masks to those who don’t have one, according to Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti. Menards, a regional home improvement retailer with hundreds of Midwestern stores, requires shoppers to wear face coverings, which it sells at some store entrances for 89 cents.
In jurisdictions where masks are broadly required, such as Michigan and Minneapolis, Target Corp. store workers ask shoppers to wear them. Masks are often for sale near store entrances, but for physical-safety reasons employees are asked not to force the issue, said a person familiar with the company policy.
At Walmart Inc., the country’s largest retailer, workers have to wear masks and signs encourage shoppers to do so. Even in states and cities where masks are required, Walmart doesn’t ask store workers to enforce those rules, said a person familiar with the policy, instead relying on law enforcement if an issue arises.
Visitors to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., will be required to wear masks when the theme park reopens, starting on July 171, the company said in May when it announced the reopening. Children under the age of 2 are exempt from the rule.
The company hasn’t specified whether guests at Disney land in Anaheim, Calif., will need masks when it starts reopening on July 17. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week issued a statewide mandate for face coverings.
Gov. Newsom ordered all Californians to wear a mask while out in public or face possible misdemeanor charges. His decision came one week after officials in Orange County, where Disneyland is located, said residents there would not be required to wear face coverings in public.
One of Disney’s main competitors in Florida, Universal Orlando Resort, is also requiring workers and guests to wear masks and socially distance since reopening earlier this month. Customers to the Comcast Corp.-owned park are also getting their temperatures checked before coming into the park; those with a reading higher than 100.4 degrees aren’t allowed inside.
Some businesses have discovered a segment of their customer base will likely end up angry no matter which course they choose. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the nation’s largest movie-theater chain, initially said last week it wouldn’t require moviegoers to wear a mask when its theaters reopen next month. After an outcry from public-health officials and some members of the public, the company reversed course less than 24 hours later and said the face coverings would be mandatory.
No. 2 circuit Regal Entertainment Group also changed its policy to require masks, though No. 3 chain Cinemark Holdings Inc. is still planning to encourage, but not require, moviegoers to wear them.
—Erich Schwartzel and Sarah Nassauer contributed to this article.
Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com and Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com
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