Walden Galleria Won’t Require Masks For Vaccinated Shoppers, But There’s a Catch?

If you missed the news on Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would be adopting the new CDC update in guidelines that says fully vaccinated people don't have to wear a mask in most settings and won't be required to social distance in most places as well.

The New York State adoption of the new CDC guidelines goes into effect on Wednesday, May 19th.

There are many stores that have dropped their mask mandates for shoppers and customers, such as Walmart, Target, BJ's, Sam's Club, Starbucks, and Trader Joe's.

According to WIVB, the Walden Galleria has joined in not requiring masks for fully vaccinated customers.

The Pyramid Management Group, who owns Walden Galleria, made the announcement on their new mask policy on Tuesday; which in part said they are "pleased that New York State and the surrounding region continue to make progress rebounding from the pandemic."

However, WIVB also reports that all guests are still "encouraged" to wear a mask because individual venue rules may be different. It's not clear which venues in the Walden Galleria will have different mask rules.

I'm wondering how many more stores over the next several days and weeks will drop mask mandates for fully vaccinated customers. It seems the list is growing every day and let's hope we continue to make progress as we slowly get back to normal, although we are certainly not there yet.