Photo: Niels Wenstedt/BSR Agency/Getty Images
For lots of us – seemingly here in Austin, the vast majority – wearing a mask when in a public space like a grocery store has become pretty close to second nature. It’s such an easy thing to do to fight the pandemic, and such a simple but meaningful gesture of mutual concern for our fellow Austinites, that seeing someone in such a space without a mask has become shocking and offensive – offensive enough for me, personally, that it’s difficult to resist a confrontation. Apparently our friends at HEB have been on the receiving end of enough frenzied pushback from anti-maskers, that they’ve quietly stopped enforcing their chain-wide mask policy.
It’s enough to spark a conversation on whether or not shoppers ourselves should take matters into our own hands – after all, alongside the employees of the store, it’s our health that’s being put at risk unnecessarily by these selfish cretins. However, in the big picture, while it might spice up the average trip to the store, is a confrontation with a random weirdo going to do much to fix the overall problem? Experts say, probably not.
Enjoyable, if bittersweet, retrospective goodbye to good old Threadgill’s North – until the pandemic, one of Austin’s most historically important and longest-lived establishments – from W.K. Stratton of Texas Monthly.
And finally, speaking of sad COVID closures, looks like Hops & Grain has thrown in the towel on their really nice taproom…for now. Best of luck guys.
