Wal-Mart required shoppers to wear face masks starting July 20

July 22.  By Dave Yochum. CVS, Harris Teeter, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Publix and Wal-Mart are among the retailers telling customers to wear a face mask or stay out, but enforcing the mask mandate is another matter.

Doing so could put an employee between a belligerent shopper and his groceries.

Cornelius Police say the enforcement function is left up to the owners.

“However, if we do receive a call regarding this we will then respond and provide education to what the executive order advises,” CPD spokeswoman Kristin Prescott said.

Effective today masks will be required in all Harris Teeter stores. Lowe’s, meanwhile, says it is making “masks available to those who need them.”

Gov. Roy Cooper, whose executive order made wearing a mask in public mandatory, said not doing so defies “basic decency and common sense.”

Cooper said refusing to wear a mask in a public setting is “selfish.”

“It infringes on the life and liberty of everyone else in the store,” he said.

Photo credit: Main photo supplied by Wal-Mart.