Under Executive Order 20-48, signed by Gov. Tim Walz on Apr. 30, workers in non-customer facing office and industrial settings are now allowed to go back to work, and customer facing businesses are continued to be allowed to do curbside pick-up, delivery, and walk-in for essential stores. Students have been taking advantage of delivery and pickup from restaurants that allow it.
“I get take-out from restaurants maybe twice every week and it’s been great. The only bad things are sometimes getting orders wrong or waiting for a long time, but there haven’t been problems with social distancing or health worries with getting the food,” sophomore Mac Brown said.
Junior Gabriella Thompson’s family owns a liquor store, and has had to make some changes due to the pandemic, but they are slowly opening back up.
“[The store] is doing curbside pickup and normal walk-in service, and delivery for events/large orders. Only like 4 guys and my mom work there, and it’s been pretty busy, so besides wearing masks there haven’t been a lot of changes,” Thompson said.
Certain Mall of America stores are beginning to allow pickup in designated times and areas outside the building. These stores include Anthropologie, Free People, Coach, Levi’s, Original Popcorn House, and Nordstrom.
Under the Executive Order, offices where workers do their work in an office space and at their desk are allowed to reopen, as long as social distancing protocols are able to be followed. However, not all office buildings are reopening.
“Law offices were initially deemed essential, we opted to have 100% of our staff work from home. Three weeks ago we made the decision to staff one person in the office to assist with remote needs. This was a calculated decision to keep all of us, including our families, safe. We plan to continue working from home for the foreseeable future. I am worried as office settings open we may see a spike in illness directly traced to work environments,” Tonya Rosso, SPA parent and accountant at a law firm, said.
Across the country, different states are taking different stances on reopening. Although Minnesota is loosening the restrictions a little, many other states are allowing more businesses to reopen, just under certain guidelines. In Alabama, places like gyms, barber shops, nail and hair salons, restaurants, bars, and breweries are allowed to reopen and allow customers on the property under certain restrictions. Indiana is allowing restaurants, bars, retail, and commercial businesses to reopen at 50% capacity.
“I think that Minnesota is doing really good with slowly reintegrating normal life and operations with restaurants and other businesses, and many other states might be reopening too quickly depending on their situation,” Brown said.
Overall, states are taking different routes in the process of reopening up in the midst of the pandemic. Minnesota is taking it slower than many others, and people are encouraged to stay at home and work at home whenever possible, and wear masks and social distance when going into a public space.