SAN ANTONIO — One day after announcing an order that would require businesses to perform temperature checks for customers and employees, city leaders walked it back.
A new order from Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff Wednesday "highly encouraged" temperature checks, and will require businesses to display a list of coronavirus symptoms at entrances. It also expands the ban on gatherings of 100 or more people to indoor and outdoor settings. The new order went into effect at 5 p.m. tonight.
"The new local orders require that all local commercial businesses in San Antonio and Bexar County must, as part of their previously required health and safety policies, prominently display a list of the COVID-19 symptoms," Mayor Nirenberg said during the city's briefing on Wednesday night. "We have signage available for download on the county and city websites, and we all need to be aware of these symptoms of COVID-19 and stay home if we have any of these symptoms."
"We are not requiring that businesses conduct temperature checks at the door of all customers and employees, but we are encouraging them to do so strongly," Nirenberg said.
It was a welcome development for Ray Dunn, a San Antonian and owner of Multiverse Games on the north side. He was left scrambling after Tuesday's initial announcement, worried about how he'd implement temperature screenings for each patron that walks through his doors when he says he's already carrying a huge load of the responsibility.
"We have become the de facto law enforcement and first stage (of) screening," Dunn said of local businesses.
The idea behind the temperature check order was to limit the number of sick people interacting with others, but city leaders reconsidered after getting feedback from local businesses.
"We had a number of businesses and others talk to us about what that requirement would do, and the practicability of it that was difficult to comply with in the short term, so we've made some changes to the requirement, but not to the objective," Nirenberg said.
Even still, both Nirenberg and Wolff say they hope the governor will give them more power in coming up with their own plans to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Bexar County.
"(We're) trying to find a way through the maze of state orders to figure out a way to protect people, (that) is really the problem here," Nirenberg said. "It shouldn't have to be that hard. We shouldn't have to be punitive with our small business community."