-
Several Trump properties are requiring that their guests and staff alike wear masks.
-
Properties include the Trump International Beach Resort in Miami, Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently battling schools on mask mandates for children.
-
A Mar-a-Lago staff member told Insider he had “no clue” if there was a mask requirement on the property.
While COVID-19 cases surge across the US, many businesses are requiring their staff and customers to mask up – including several Trump properties.
According to advisories posted on the properties’ websites, several Trump hotels are mandating that guests and staff wear masks indoors.
The Trump Hotel in Miami requires facial coverings to be worn in public spaces – even while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to fight against mask mandates for children amid a swell in Florida’s COVID-19 infections.
“Our Trump International Beach Resort team understands the seriousness of the risks associated with the spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19,” said a notice on the hotel’s website. “Facial coverings are required in public space, social distancing required at all times, limited capacity for outlets. These regulations will be enforced by both city and county inspectors during unannounced visits.”
The Trump International Hotel in Waikiki similarly requires workers to wear face masks on the property and recommends that guests do the same, per a health advisory that can be found on its website. According to this health and safety plan, guests have also been advised on “proper mask usage” and social distancing.
“We will continue to be vigilant by following guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local and state authorities,” read the document.
Meanwhile, a staff member at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, who declined to be named, told Insider over the phone that he had “no clue” if there was a mask requirement for guests. Earlier this year, local Floridian officials threatened the resort with $15,000 in penalties over mask-mandate violations after videos emerged of unmasked guests, including Donald Trump Jr., at a New Year’s Eve party.
The face mask requirement does not appear to be consistent across the Trump-linked properties. For one, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is no longer requiring fully-vaccinated guests to wear masks, per a notice on its website. However, like many businesses across the US, the property says that guests will “still see (its) associates in face masks.”
The Trump Hotel in Vegas said in a notice that vaccinated guests and visitors can move around the property without masks. However, an unnamed front desk worker told CBS this week that the Las Vegas property does have a mask mandate indoors.
“We do have a mask mandate in place for inside – it’s been in effect for the past couple of weeks,” the worker told CBS while declining to be named.
It is unclear when each mask guideline for the properties was imposed. It is also unclear if the other Trump-linked hotels in New York and Washington, DC, or the former president’s golf clubs across the country, also require staff to wear masks.
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
The Trump Organization’s compliance with local mask mandates does not comport with the past defiant stance that Donald Trump struck against mask-wearing. When he was president, Trump refused for months to wear a face-covering during public appearances. Most memorably, the former president removed his mask on the steps of the White House when he returned from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after contracting COVID-19.
The US is currently seeing a troubling surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly with the spread of the contagious Delta variant. The case surge prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that even the fully vaccinated should wear masks indoors.
At press time, the US recorded a total of 37,133,674 COVID-19 infections, with a daily average of 139,872 new cases, per the New York Times COVID case tracker.
Read the original article on Insider
