Winona Area Chamber of Commerce President Christie Ransom
WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-The Winona County business community is strongly opposed to a county-wide indoor mask requirement.
That’s according to Winona Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Christie Ransom. Ransom says last month’s mask mandate that was briefly in place in the city of Winona created a negative atmosphere in local businesses.
“I talked to business owners that saw fights in their stores just in one day of a mask mandate,” Ransom said during an interview on KWNO’s In the Know Tuesday. “I think that we’re just going to see a lot of opposition. People are just going to do what they’re going to do anyway and it’s going to create an atmosphere of tension and a situation where people just can’t police it.”
Ransom said many small businesses that are mostly staffed by one employee and at a time don’t have the ability to manage the tension she says a mask mandate would create. She says communities in the county outside of the City of Winona are vocal in their opposition to the mandate.
Ransom said the business community in the city of Winona did not have an appetite for another mandate when the city’s mask requirement was briefly in place in August. Last month, the Winona County Board moved forward on possibly instituting a mask mandate on a 3-2.
The push for a county-wide mask mandate comes as infections of COVID-19 in Winona County rose rapidly in August.
Listen to the full interview with Winona Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Christie Ransom below.
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