No more mask mandate, but some Minnesotans will keep them
Associated PressMINNEAPOLIS — On the first day that Minnesotans could go without a mask in public, Amber Raitz wasn’t about to do so. Tim Walz dropping the state’s mask requirement in public spaces, but Raitz, 48, said Friday that she plans to keep her mask on in public mainly to make people around her less nervous. Walz’s move to end the mask requirement he issued last July came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday. “I think that’s mitigated to some degree by the fact that more activity is happening outside in the Minnesota spring and summer, and the fact that vaccination rates do continue to march steadily upward — not as quickly as we would like but still making forward progress everyday,” she said. Malcolm said Friday that Minnesota has seen steady reductions in case growth in recent weeks but there is “still a lot of virus circulating in our communities.” The CDC guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but it will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools and other venues.