# When and where are people required to wear masks or face coverings?

> Under the Orders, face coverings or masks are required for any individual engaging in essential business or minimum basic operations. Previous Orders only re...

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Last updated: 2022-11-03T21:27:16.085Z

  

Under the Orders, face coverings or masks are required for any individual engaging in essential business or minimum basic operations. Previous Orders only required face coverings or masks for certain activities, but the requirement has recently been extended to all essential activities.

*   ·         Hotel workers, guests, and visitors;
*   Individuals using taxis, ride shares, private transportation providers;
*   Workers and customers of food sellers; and
*   Strongly encouraged for workers and individuals using public transit.[\[CV(1\]](#_msocom_1) 

Essential businesses must supply their employees with masks or face coverings, and must post signs to customers that notify them to wear masks or face coverings, and instructing them on general social distancing guidelines.

Under [\[CV(2\]](#_msocom_2) the Order, wearing a medical-grade mask satisfies this requirement, but all individuals are urged to use cloth masks or face coverings in order to preserve these medical-grade supplies for healthcare workers and others in need of these supplies.   The face covering/mask requirement does not apply to:

*   Children under the age of 9 (parents are encouraged to have children between ages 2 and 9 also wear face coverings/masks, but it is not required);
*   Individuals experiencing homelessness; and
*   Individuals who cannot wear a mask/face covering due to a medical condition or disability, or who are unable to remove these coverings themselves.

Are members of households required to be 6ft apart?  What is a “household”?

A household includes all the persons who occupy the same housing unit as their usual place of residence. Housing units include houses, apartments, or a single room occupied as separate quarters[\[HM(3\]](#_msocom_3) . Separate quarters are defined as those in which occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from outside the building or through a common hall, such as a home’s basement converted to an apartment.

No, members of households are not required to be 6 feet apart, unless a member of the household is sick. In such cases the CDC recommends that the 6-foot distance guideline be maintained in addition to provision of a separate bedroom or bathroom when possible.

Note that _household_ members are not the same as _family_ members and the groups may or may not overlap. If a grandmother and grandchild do not live in the same housing unit, they must remain six feet apart. If roommates share a housing unit, they are not required to remain six feet apart.

 [\[CV(1\]](#_msoanchor_1)These can be examples but I wouldn’t keep in the text anymore since the order is now broader.

 [\[CV(2\]](#_msoanchor_2)All from order: [https://coronavirus.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/coronavirus/page\_content/attachments/Mayors-Order-2020-066-Extensions-of-Public-Emergency-and-Public-Health.pdf](https://coronavirus.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/coronavirus/page_content/attachments/Mayors-Order-2020-066-Extensions-of-Public-Emergency-and-Public-Health.pdf)

 [\[HM(3\]](#_msoanchor_3)Census bureau