Naples city leaders push ‘All Heroes Wear Masks’ campaign rather than mandate

The city of Naples is making the push for you to wear a face mask no matter where you go.

City leaders are hitting the streets to make sure everyone who needs a face mask, has one.

It’s part of an initiative called “All Heroes Wear Masks”.

The goal is to encourage business owners, workers, and even you to wear a mask without a mandate being necessary, particularly with season underway.

On Friday afternoon on 5th Ave. South in Naples, you could see lots of people walking around downtown. Some were wearing a mask and others were not.

When walking into a shop in Naples you can choose not to wear one if the business doesn’t require one, since there’s no mask mandate in Naples.

However, business owners and the city hope you’ll choose to keep it on.

Naples Vice-Mayor Terry Hutchinson said, “We’re trying to get out and help businesses and organizations.”

Explaining the importance of mask-wearing as COVID-19 cases rise and with season underway.

“You can look up and down 5th Ave. in the evenings and see a lot of people,” Hutchinson said. “The timing is right, get these masks out, get the posters out. Start having these conversations.”

Hutchinson spent much of the morning handing out masks and posters to businesses on 5th Avenue South.

“These people are running businesses. They’re trying to stay thriving and relevant and that end, we thought we would come to them, instead of forcing them to come to us and look for these masks,” Hutchinson added.

Vincenzo Betulia owns Osteria Tulia and two other restaurants on 5th.

He’s already hung up the city’s poster and mandates employees wear masks, but says he must balance that with running his business.

“You want to wear the mask, you feel comfortable coming in with it, great. You know you’re being served just like everybody else. And if you’re not wearing a mask – obviously, I’m not in politics, so, I’m not here to hand out a mask either,” Betulia said.

Of course, not everyone supports wearing masks. The city council will once again bring it for discussion during a city council meeting on December 3.

In the past, they’ve relied on mask campaign’s instead of a mask mandate.