Businesses in the Northland requiring masks for everyone

Booster shots and a new Covid-19 variant are surfacing around the world and many Northland businesses are reconsidering the mask mandates. Since August 15th to November 28th, Essentia Health has administered 45,203 booster shots to Northlanders.

However, most businesses are not mandating their customers to wear mask, only employees are required to wear them. At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe has signs posted that require everyone to wear a mask regardless of your vaccinations status.

"There are some people that come in that do not like that we are requiring mask and they have a choice. We leave mask out for them when they enter the building and if they don’t want to wear a mask we can offer them takeout and they chose whether or not they want to stay”, said general manager Carey Kasapidis.

Other stores like Wholes Food Co-Op requires all their customers and employees to wear a mask while inside. Having an environment that is both safe to their customers and employees is on the minds of a lot of business. Kasapidis mentions that while “there are a lot of people still not comfortable eating in public, but are comfortable coming here. The pandemic is not over yet and we want everyone to feel safe."

At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe will continue to abide by CDC masking guidelines until further notice.