Mask Up Knoxville Facebook page tracks mask mandate compliance
Members of the Facebook group participate with short reports and longer descriptions of where people are and aren't wearing masks KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A local couple noticed different businesses had different levels of compliance with wearing masks. They would post what they saw on social media but it seemed like that information needed a broader reach. Three weeks ago they started the Facebook page called Mask Up Knoxville. It has almost 6,000 followers. Think of it as a heads up on safety. "It's really awkward if you go to a business and you walk in and you realize, oh, no one is wearing masks, no one is taking any precautions, I don't want to be here. So it's better to know ahead of time where we can go," Robin Nichols said. She is one of the admins for Mask Up Knoxville. She says posts on the Facebook page must be a first-hand report of a visit to a local business. "We try to emphasize the positives and the good places to go." The page has a search function and recommendations by category. "There are some people that have been doing really well, right from the start. I'm very impressed. Publix has been doing very well. Trader Joe's right on top of it. Markham Jewelers also on top of it," she said. Scrolling through the comments reveals both short reports and long descriptions. "We've seen some real benefits for Knoxville because we have people coming in from Lenoir City and people coming up from Maryville because they know the conditions of the stores here are going to be good," she said. Reviews also point out stores not following Knox mask rules. Sometimes it's workers, sometimes it's customers, sometimes it's management. "I was really hopeful that the group would become obsolete after the mandate.…
Read moreDetails

















