Green Bay businesses wait for more information on local mask mandate

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Wednesday’s State Supreme Court decision rendering the Governor’s extensions of emergency orders unlawful, canceled masking and social distancing requirements statewide.

RELATED: Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down mask executive orders as “unlawful”

For the Black Saddle bar in Green Bay, the ruling doesn’t change much.

“We wanted to make sure we gave our customers the decision on whether they wanted to wear the mask. If they felt comfortable without it, they were still welcome to come in,” said Andrew Ebbole, a bartender at the Saddle.

The bar opened in September of 2019 on Washington Street. Six months later the pandemic hit closing it’s doors. Now, business is coming back as people start to feel more comfortable socializing again.

“We can start building relationships with people. I don’t want to say necessarily say we can start having fun like we were, but we can finally see more people come in and they’re a lot more comfortable than they were when the bars first reopened,” said Ebbole.

Down the street at Furs and Clothing of Distinction, business managers are also seeing business pick back up.

“When I look outside, downtown even in general, that parking lot was empty say 4-5 months ago and now its like, ‘Oh My Gosh there’s people walking around, people are doing things again,” said Jill Muenster.

The city has had its own emergency order and mask ordinance in place since the onset of the pandemic, set to expire at midnight March 31.

“If Green Bay decides that we are going to have a mandate, then of course we’ll follow through with that. If not, we’ll just have to mull that over and go day by day since we’re in such uncharted territory,” said Muenster.

“Whether or not the city does implement its own mask mandate, I don’t necessarily think it’s going to affect us at all; just for the simple fact that COVID has been going on for well over a year now,” said Ebbole.

The city council will have a special meeting on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. to discuss whether to reinstate the city’s mask ordinance.

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