Fort Worth restaurant masks up staff; others require vaccine cards for COVID-19 spike
Fred’s Texas Cafe, a Texas burger landmark with a 43-year history, has become one of the first local restaurants to require masks again for workers as a coronavirus variant spreads in Fort Worth.
The Fred’s location in north Fort Worth will reopen Wednesday, Aug. 11, after staff members were tested following a positive test result, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. The flagship location off West Seventh Street reopened Monday.
Masks are not required for customers. The staff was tested and will be fully masked “out of an abundance of caution,” Fred’s owners posted on Facebook.
Texas restaurants are struggling with how to respond as the quick-striking COVID-19 delta variant fills hospitals across the state with mostly unvaccinated patients.
McDonald’s restaurant reinstated a mask rule for employees July 26 after the Centers for Disease Control recommended masks inside public places in high-COVID regions, which in Texas would include all of Dallas-Fort Worth and north Texas west to rural areas near Abilene.
Several Austin-area restaurants have returned to a mask requirement for customers when not eating or drinking. Two of them, Fresa’s and Launderette, are requiring proof of vaccination to dine indoors.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 2:33 PM.
