Despite Florida outpacing the nation for a new, highly contagious coronavirus variant, a restaurant near Weeki Wachee Springs wants guests to know that face masks aren’t required.

BeckyJack’s Food Shack in Spring Hill has recently gone viral on social media, after posting a photo to their Facebook page that reads “Face Diapers Not Required! Everyone Welcome.”

“Howdy Folks! Happy Valentine’s Day,” said the caption on the post. “A friendly reminder that we DO NOT require Face Masks.”

The owner says he was just informing patrons of his face mask policy — or lack of one.

“We did a post just trying to be proactive letting everybody know what the mask requirement is or isn’t at Beckyjack’s because some people were coming in they were surprised that we weren’t wearing masks,” said owner Jesse Fox to WFLA. “We’re getting a ton of feedback both positive and negative.”

The restaurant is located in Hernando County, which currently does not require face masks in restaurants, reports the station.

Meanwhile, Florida added 6,297 new coronavirus cases and 225 deaths on Tuesday. The state has now witnessed 1,837,285 infections statewide and 29,659 COVID-19-related deaths since March.

This story first appeared in our sister newspaper Creative Loafing Tampa.
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