Brooklyn Park to Require Masks Inside City Buildings
Add Brooklyn Park to the list of local government entities again requiring masks.
The city will require face coverings for employees inside its facilities starting Friday. According to Tim Pratt, acting spokesperson for the city, the general public will be required to wear masks inside Brooklyn Park city facilities starting Aug. 10. That particular date was chosen because of the special election for Brooklyn Park mayor.
“We didn’t want anyone to feel we were trying to prevent them from voting,” said Pratt about the masking policy for the public starting Aug. 10.
Hennepin County, Minneapolis and St. Paul are among other government agencies to require face coverings. North Hennepin Community College will also require masks for students returning to campus this fall.
The mask requirements return as the Minnesota Department of Health reports a surge in new COVID-19 cases that it links to the fast-spreading delta variant. MDH reported 878 cases and 5 deaths on Thursday.
The state’s 7-day average case positivity rate stands at 4.2%, up from 1.1% at the end of June. Hospitalizations climbed past the state’s “caution” threshold to 4.8 per 100,000 residents.
CCX News reporter Sonya Goins contributed to this report.
