CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Now that the governor’s mask mandate has lifted and businesses are able to open at 100 percent capacity, some businesses in downtown Corpus Christi are keeping their COVID-19 protocols while others are going along with the governor’s order.
Being able to see someone smile is finally a possibility at the Point of Corpus Christi. Its owner, Francisco Cancio is allowing people to choose whether to wear a mask and said he’s back in business at 100 percent capacity.
“I would like for people to maybe be more open minded to not wearing the masks and trying to just get back to that normal feel…where a lot of businesses hurt…a lot of businesses shut down,” Cancino said.
Some of its customers couldn’t be happier, with one saying wearing a mask is situational because he got vaccinated.
“When I am at a bar, of course I take my mask off and have a couple of drinks, relax. If there’s less people, not too much my mask. Like I said, I feel more comfortable that I did have my shot,” Joe Gonzales said.
Like the Point of Corpus Christi, Mesquite Street is making employees wear masks and also opening at full capacity. They said they’re encouraging customers to wear masks.
“We’re going to leave our sign up that says masks required but if somebody comes in we’re not going to tackle them and make them leave,” Breana Gonzalez, the general manager of Mesquite Street said.
On the other hand, some businesses like Fresco are limiting capacity and requiring masks.
“We just want to follow CDC guidelines preferably over the governors opinion basically,” Oneida Cantu, Fresco’s owner said.
Some of her customers like Santos Cantu agree with her, saying even though he’s vaccinated, he will still wear his mask in public.
“Just because you know, a government mandate gets put into place, it still doesn’t really save people from the actual virus,” Santos Cantu said.
The House of Rock also said they are following similar guidelines to Fresco, saying they’re open at a limited capacity and are requiring masks.
