Mayor: Businesses will NOT be required to question customers about COVID-19 symptoms

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – Commercial businesses will not be required to question customers about COVID-19 symptoms before allowing them to enter the building.   Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Wednesday issued a fifth addendum to his Eighth Emergency Health Declaration that will take effect at noon on Friday, July 3.

The order requires that all commercial businesses in San Antonio and Bexar County prominently display a list of COVID-19 symptoms at or near public and employee entrances. If a person is experiencing symptoms they should stay home.

It also states that all  businesses must continue to require that customers, employees and visitors wear face coverings where social distancing is not possible.

The City is not requiring that businesses conduct temperature checks of all customers but is encouraging business to do so if they have the resources and capacity to implement a practical process.

A press release from the City of San Antonio notes that Governor Abbott’s Plan to Reopen Texas recommends that all businesses and employers conduct temperature checks on all employees and contractors at the start of their shifts where feasible and to send anyone home with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher.

Outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people are already prohibited. The order also prohibits indoor activities of more than 100 people. Some gatherings are excepted, in accordance with Governor Abbott’s Executive Order, but they must now have a Health and Safety Policy in place that includes requiring face coverings, screening for COVID-19 symptoms and checking temperatures for all participants in the gathering.

The types of gatherings that must conduct screening activities in order to be exempted from the prohibition on gatherings of more than 100 are as follows:

*   Recreational sports programs for youths and adults
*   Professional, collegiate, or similar sporting events
*   Swimming pools
*   Water parks
*   Museums and libraries
*   Zoos, aquariums, natural caverns, and similar facilities
*   Rodeos and equestrian events,
*   Amusement parks and carnivals