With area mask mandates over, wary businesses weigh their own: ‘We’re in a tough spot’

Donna Durante-Miller cautiously opened the doors to Elroy, her H Street NE bar and hookah lounge, as D.C. lifted its indoor mask mandate on Tuesday — and hoped for the best. Like many proprietors in the city and Prince George’s County, where the mandate ended Monday, she will ask her four employees to keep wearing masks, for now. “I’m just not sure about the free-for-all just yet,” said Durante-Miller, who has an autoimmune disease. “We’ve all gotten our vaccines, and some of us have gotten the booster, but to expose ourselves to unvaccinated people all at once is a little daunting.”