Coronavirus In Minnesota: Some Businesses Prep To Return To Work Monday, Others Opting To Wait
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Up to one 100,000 Minnesotans could return to work on Monday, and on Friday businesses were getting ready to welcome them back.
Most of those businesses include manufacturers and offices that don't have face-to-face interaction with clients.
"Never could imagine this one. This one came way out of left field," Tracy Thie, of Power Play Retail, said, talking about the day the company had to temporarily close its doors.
Since the day they left their building, they've been preparing for a return.
"We started a week ago putting our plan in place. We knew it was going to come at some point," Thie said.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis company got the news they've been waiting for. Thus begins a weekend of cleaning. When doors open Monday morning, Thie said cleaning supplies will be abundant and social distancing will be emphasized. Employees will have the option of wearing masks. But if they feel more comfortable working from home, they still can.
"Everyone will know it's not mandatory, it's voluntary. We think we'll have a subset of people OK with coming back and a subset of people still on edge," Thie said.
Power Play is expecting about half of their employees to return to the building on Monday.
While they prepare, other companies are going to wait a little longer before they welcome employees back.
"I was extremely happy," said Bob Riegelman of Riedell Shoes in Red Wing.
Riegelman said his company is still planning to re-open May 4th. When they do, employees will have their temperatures checked every day. Masks and gloves will be available but water fountains and refrigerators won't be. Still, they feel fortunate they can start selling more ice skates and roller skates again.
"We are happy to be able to re-open soon. Get employees back, service customers and build product because I don't think we could have gone many more weeks," said Riegelman.
Power Play told John they expect about half of their 35 employees to return to the building on Monday. The rest they expect to continue working from home.
