Daily Digest for July 23, 2020 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Cody Nelson |
Good morning and welcome to a mask politics edition of Capitol View.
Gov. Tim Walz has announced a statewide mask mandate. It requires Minnesotans to wear masks in restaurants, stores and other public indoor gathering spaces as a way to stem the spread of COVID-19 and put the state on a path back to normalcy. “This is the quickest way to ending the COVID pandemic,” he told reporters. “It is the surest way to getting us to the therapeutics and vaccines” while continuing to reopen the economy. The order takes effect Saturday.
The order could have a big impact on controlling the spread of COVID-19. If 90 to 95 percent of Minnesotans complied, businesses could stay open, kids could return safely to school buildings, and we "get back that life that we all miss so much,” Walz said.
Some Republicans do not approve. “Once again, I find myself asking why one-size-fits-all is the only option for a mask mandate,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said in a statement. “Businesses and individuals are already requiring and wearing masks in most situations, so the mandate feels like a heavy-handed, broad approach that won’t work well for every situation."
The business community doesn't seem to mind, though. Best Buy called it “an appropriate public health response to keep frontline retail workers, customers and our communities safe.” Minnesota Chamber of Commerce president Doug Loon said his members shared Walz’s push for broader mask use as a way to propel the economy forward in a safe way. The chamber, representing some 2,300 Minnesota businesses, has been working with the Walz administration on way to carry out the order. “What we don’t want to see happen is businesses, their employees finding themselves in an unnecessary confrontation with a customer,” Loon said. “Nobody wants that.”
In Minneapolis, City Council members took steps toward moving money from cops toward community-based violence prevention. Brandt Williams reports : "During a daylong budget markup, which included a public hearing, council members approved several amendments related to police funding and staffing. The committee approved an amendment to move $1.1 million from the Police Department to the Health Department in order to fund civilian violence interrupters who will mediate violent conflicts and help prevent further trouble."
President Donald Trump is expanding the deployment of federal agents into U.S. cities. Via NPR : "President Trump on Wednesday said his administration would 'surge' federal law enforcement officials to help fight crime in Chicago and Albuquerque, N.M., as part of the Justice Department's controversial Operation Legend. Trump accused local politicians in the cities of not doing enough to address what he says are waves of crime as the public and some politicians call for the reduction of police department budgets. 'In recent weeks there's been a radical movement to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police departments,' Trump said, claiming 'extreme politicians have joined this anti-police crusade and relentlessly vilified our law enforcement heroes.'"
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