Mike Tomasi and his business partners want to cater to everyone.

So when Denver last week joined four other metro counties in mandating that businesses require employees and customers to wear masks or instead ask for proof of vaccination from all patrons, the Optimum Golf owners decided to, well, do both.

Their indoor golf facility in River North doesn’t require masks, but anyone who enters must be vaccinated, while their Park Hill location is open to all — but they must wear masks inside.

“If we go one way, people will think one thing of us,” Tomasi said. “If we go the other way, we ostracize one side of our client base.”

As COVID-19 cases surged in Colorado through November and hospitals neared capacity, Denver and most of its surrounding counties lobbied for statewide action, then, when that didn’t come, coordinated on an indoor mask mandate, though they each gave businesses the ability to opt-out by enacting vaccine requirements instead.

For a host of Denver breweries and restaurants, the “vax-or-mask” decision was easy, but plenty of other businesses say checking vaccine cards is simply not possible without adding additional staff, which can be hard to come by in a tight labor market. And without a sweeping vaccine mandate for businesses, everyone is still left to decide for themselves.

“What makes us tired is that it’s always on the small business,” said Justin Morse, owner of Brasserie Brixton, who opted to have his restaurant require proof of vaccination to dine. “Because we didn’t maybe do more stringent measures earlier, the government made the decision when we opened and closed. Now the culmination of these local decisions, these national decisions, is that my little restaurant has to be police officers of COVID cards. It’s frustrating.”

Choosing between mandates

Since Mayor Michael Hancock’s announcement last week, 400 Denver businesses have pursued the option of becoming the city is calling fully-vaccinated facilities, according to the mayor’s office.

The numbers are lower so far in Jefferson, Adams and Arapahoe counties, which implemented similar rules last week: 39 Jefferson County businesses are seeking the exemption from the mask order, local officials said, while 30 have submitted applications in Adams and Arapahoe counties.

Boulder County was first in the metro area to reinstate an indoor mask mandate, in early September. Since then, 263 businesses in the county have been certified to verify patrons’ vaccination status, according to Boulder County Public Health.

To apply for such a mask exemption, businesses must submit plans to their local health departments explaining how they would verify that at least 95% of people in their buildings at any time are vaccinated. They also could opt for more-limited exemptions — if, for instance, a gym wanted to allow only vaccinated people to attend an intense exercise class so they can go without masks.

Denver has fielded 78 complaints since the mandate went into effect last week, mostly related to masks not being worn where required, a Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson said.

A host of Denver breweries and restaurants quickly decided after Hancock’s announcement to do away with masks and go for proof-of-vaccination instead.

Soon after the mayor’s press conference, James Howat, owner of Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, went to get a drink at another bar. He didn’t pass another soul as he walked to the bar with his mask on. But when he went to grab a seat, he took off his mask, as did his neighbors, not more than a couple feet away from him.

“I thought, what is this doing really?” Howat said. “What is this doing to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed?”

For bars and restaurants like Black Project, Howat thought, a vaccination requirement made far more sense. After posting the brewery’s vaccine decision on Facebook, the owner said he got some people calling him a Nazi and telling him he’s going out of business. But the post also was one of the most well-received he’s had in months.

“I wish I didn’t have to exclude people,” he said. “But if this mandate is about reducing hospitalizations, I couldn’t do the mask thing and think I’m doing my part.”

With staffing issues rampant across the food service industry, Ilona Botton felt that in addition to employee safety and comfort, her Trellis Wine Bar in Park Hill simply couldn’t afford to lose anyone for a prolonged period of time if they got sick — another reason to opt for the vaccine requirement.

“We don’t want to have to shut the doors because someone came in and wasn’t vaccinated,” Botton said.

When Brasserie Brixton’s Morse was deciding whether to go the same route, he looked at the numbers, seeing that close to 90% of Denver adults had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We felt from a business case, there really wasn’t much to lose” by electing to check diners’ vaccination status, he said, noting that his restaurant has a small dining room anyway.

The business argument also led Tomasi and partners at Optimum Golf to split their locations by mask and vaccine requirements, subscribing to a famous Michael Jordan line: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

“His theory was, ‘Stay out of it, you’re a business,’” Tomasi said. “We wanted to approach it from a business standpoint and not take sides and have people wonder where we stand.”

Not enough manpower

Other retailers said staffing issues simply made it impossible to check every person who walks through the door — something bars, breweries and music venues already are better equipped to do.