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After Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced his executive order Wednesday mandating masks for residents in businesses, public buildings and other indoor public gathering spaces across the state, people took to social media to express a variety of opinions.

Some people were relieved and thankful for the action, while others were angry and voiced their disapproval of the governor’s action.

While reading through the comments on the Tribune’s own Facebook page, we were disappointed to see some people who said that because of the action they would take their business to Iowa, which has looser COVID-19 guidelines.

While we understand the frustration that many are feeling, we hope you remember that taking your shopping out of our community and out of the state will only hurt our local businesses, many of which are already struggling to survive in the current business climate.

The next few months will be critical in whether these businesses will be able to continue on in the community.

Without an end in sight from the pandemic, we hope people will continue to support local businesses, even if it means having to wear a face mask for a few minutes as you run into a store.

These are our friends and neighbors, and it hurts our whole community in the long run if people go elsewhere.