TOLEDO, Ohio — The Governor and local health departments no longer have the power to issue blanket health mandates, leaving school districts and businesses scrambling to come up with a plan.
Senate Bill 22 and House bill 2-44 give the state's General Assembly the ability to reject any governor or health department health orders, including mandating masks.
The Ohio Department of Health is strongly recommending, not mandating masks, for unvaccinated students and staff members leaving it up to each school district and business to make its own decision.
Owner of Focaccias and The Blarney in Downtown Toledo, Ed Baczynski said, "If our employees want to wear it, they're more, I have a couple of employees that do wear their masks. I haven't really seen many customers wear them, but I leave it up to them, customers and employees."
For any business owner that isn't sure what to do when it comes to requiring masks, The Wood County Health Department does have a few recommendations.
"What we would do is encourage businesses to post signage that reflects what their policies are. That will help both their staff and patrons should be doing regarding masks," said Ben Robison, the Wood County Health Department Commissioner.
The Wood County Health Department recommends business owners have masks available for customers if they're going to be requiring them.