Thread by @RobertHarding

Since I've been asked about this numerous times, I'll address it here. More than two dozen Cayuga County restaurants and stores have been fined for violating COVID-19 rules. But there is one I get asked about more than any other: Wegmans.

Since the state's COVID-19 mask mandate took effect, I have received several messages from readers about Wegmans not enforcing the mask rule. Their stories are consistent: They observe a customer not wearing a mask and they report it to an employee.

These people tell me the same thing: A Wegmans employee (or management) responds with some variation of "There is nothing we can do."

These comments stayed with me as local businesses, many of which are small businesses, faced fines for either not abiding by the mask rules or not enforcing them.

And then I sat down to watch the Cayuga County Board of Health meeting in September.

At that meeting, the board approved four consent orders against businesses that violated the COVID-19 rules, specifically the mask order. I knew about these ahead of time because it's a public meeting and the materials were made available in advance.

What I wasn't prepared for was a long discussion about Wegmans. It was revealed, for the first time, that the board issued a consent order against Wegmans for violating the state mask mandate. But that wasn't the highlight.

A consent order is the first penalty in the enforcement process. The offender takes responsibility for their conduct (in this case, not following or enforcing the mask mandate) and they agree to pay a $50 fine. If they don't sign the order, the $50 fine *should* be off the table.

At the board of health meeting, a county official says that Wegmans paid the $50 but *did not* sign the order. That's significant because not agreeing to the consent order should trigger a hearing and the possibility of a stiffer penalty.

The same county official said that a Wegmans attorney sent them a letter. This official summarized Wegmans' stance — that the company "felt that they were not responsible for their customers."

This was surprising to some members of the board. One said that he "always thought of (Wegmans) as taking the approach of being a good corporate citizen."

And then came the big blow from a health department official.

They said that they had a conversation with someone at Wegmans' corporate office. Based on that discussion, she offered this assessment: "I just don't think they believe in it. That's the bottom line."

That's quite a statement about how this supermarket chain is responding to the pandemic. That has stayed with me for two months because I wondered what would come next. Would Wegmans face a stiffer penalty? Would there be additional penalties for these other complaints?

The answer to both questions, it appears, is no. There has been two board of health meetings since September. Wegmans hasn't been mentioned once.

I planned on following up on this two months ago, but then our COVID cases spiked and there may have been an election I had to cover. I am following up on this after Thanksgiving.

Some of the people who have contacted me about Wegmans do so after seeing local businesses, including locally-owned grocery stores, fined for not enforcing the mask mandate. One grocery store was fined today for the second time.

Their message is clear: How is this fair? Why is there one standard for certain businesses, while others face no penalties? These are good questions, and I plan on asking them.