Groups are pushing for a statewide mask mandate as COVID-19 resurges in parts of the U-S, and there’s speculation that Governor Tim Walz could issue an executive order this week. The Minnesota Nurses Association supports the move, which President Mary Turner says would take some of the load off businesspeople who are having to be the “mask police”: “Make a universal state [mandate], then they can say, you need to wear a mask. If you’re gonna come in here, you need to wear a mask.”
Turner says to control COVID-19 universal masking might ultimately be necessary in all public spaces, including outdoors — that combined with rigorous social distancing. She says the state’s response to COVID-19 has been better than most but “we haven’t done all that we can do to stop it.”