Train Your Staff: Don’t Fall for Phony ‘Mask Exemption’ Cards

There’s a new tactic being employed by people who don’t want to comply with rules on wearing a mask when entering any number of businesses, including urgent care centers. At least one “enterprising” company is even trying to make a buck off the issue, in fact, by producing a bogus “Medical Mask Exemption” card. It states that the bearer “is exempt from face mask usage requirements” and that “wearing a face mask poses a mental and/or physical risk to me under the Americans with Disabilities Act.” It goes on to threaten that “violating” the card’s nonexistent authority will result in legal penalties, and gives a phone number purported to be for the U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA violations hotline. (Meanwhile, we discovered that the number listed on the card is actually the line for general information from the ADA.) Assure your staff that these cards, and others like them, don’t represent any actual governmental agency and that they do not exempt the patient from complying with your or your local government’s regulations regarding masks to help prevent the spread of the virus.