STOUGHTON (WKOW) -- Dane County's new mask mandate officially went into effect on Thursday, but some business owners say they won't be forcing customers to follow the new requirement.
"I enforce it on my staff, and that's the only way I can enforce it," Ken Gulseth, owner of Stoughton's Koffee Kup restaurant, said. "Otherwise, customers, I'm not patrolling it. Sign's on the door, wear your mask to enter this business… by the time they get in here they gotta' take it off anyway, so."
Gulseth said his business has suffered tremendously throughout the pandemic and the new mandate could be the final straw. He doesn't want to take any steps that might force his 32-year-old restaurant out of business.
"I'm at the point where if this continues, I'll have to sell or shut the doors," Gulseth said. "I don't know. I don't have the answer. I'm just going to take it day by day and just see what happens in September."
Mike Clayton, a customer at the restaurant, said he supported Gulseth's decision.
"I get really emotional about this, it really annoys me," Clayton said. "I don't need people telling me to wear a mask when I've already been vaccinated."
Other masked customers said they were in support of the new mandate.
"I think they never should have gotten rid of it in the first place, because it went all too fast and the numbers skyrocketed," Tina Lauretic said.
Brian Johnson, owner of Cheesers, a cheese store just down the street from the Koffee Kup restaurant, said the new mandate brought uncertainty into the picture for his business.
"Now I'm concerned because the traffic in the store had really come back," Johnson said. "But now I don't know what will happen."
For Gulseth, the new mandate and increasing restrictions bring back worry and anxiety that he thought he was done with. He's hoping that by the time the mandate expires in September, things will get back to normal.
"I don't think I could survive another covid," Gulseth said. "It's just tough on everybody."
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August 20, 2021 at 06:36AM
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Dane County business owner says he won't force customers to follow new mask mandate - WKOW
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