Editor’s note: Much of the nation has been shut down for two-plus months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now the economy is reopening, and businesses of all types are ramping up for what they hope will be a busy summer. Today, we are launching a series of articles titled “Reopening.” The first installment focuses on states in the region.

While the national toll for deaths related to COVID-19 eclipsed 100,000 last week, states across the country find themselves in various stages of reopening plans.

Minnesota

Gov. Tim Walz is allowing restaurants, bars, salons and tattoo parlors to reopen today, as long as the businesses practice social distancing, have staff wear masks and abide by reduced occupancy requirements.

Retail establishments were allowed to reopen May 18 at 50 percent capacity. Gyms, fitness studios and public entertainment venues, including museums, zoos, concert halls, race tracks and bowling alleys are still prohibited from opening.

Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce President Ned Koppen said Walz calls his reopening plan “adjusting the dials.” Koppen said it is a positive step to allow for reopening of restaurants, but some small business owners cannot afford to open at 50 percent capacity.

“A lot of them are not opening,” he said, saying they told him, “We’re not going to open to lose money.”

Koppen added that the public and business owners alike are ready to find out what “the new normal” looks like.

“People are getting antsy,” he said. “And they want our economy to get back to a normal kind of doing business.”

Iowa

In Iowa, a partial reopening took place May 1, when restaurants, gyms and some “non-essential” retailers were able to reopen, albeit with some social distancing guidelines in place.

Today, more businesses, including speedways, casinos, amusement parks, bowling alleys and more, will be able to reopen.

David Fierke, city manager of Fort Dodge, believes public sentiment has relaxed recently, even as the number of COVID-19 cases in Webster County is on the rise. In early May, Webster County had eight cases. As of Wednesday, there were 29.

“We were more in lockdown mode when the county had like two to three to five cases,” Fierke said.

Though cases are up — possibly due to increased testing, according to Webster County Public Health Director Kari Prescott — Fierke said Iowans have been good at social distancing, and he believes in the resiliency of the population.

Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on May 22 extended her stay-at-home order to June 12 for the lower parts of the state.

Effective May 22 in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, restaurants and retail shopping establishments were able to open with social distancing and occupancy restrictions in place. Theaters, gyms, salons and casinos still remain closed statewide.

Iron Mountain Mayor Dale Alessandrini said that in the U.P., the cases are few, and as long as people abide by social distancing guidelines and wear masks, things should be opening up. He said he has mixed feelings about the opening guidelines, which allow bars in the northern portion of the state to open, but not barbers.

“You go into a bar, and there’s people in there, right next to each other, but yet, you can’t go into the salon and get your hair done,” Alessandrini said. “So some of it, I think, is unnecessary. The salons should probably be open because they take the precautions with face masks and shields.”

As the owner of a greenhouse, he and his employees have been abiding by safety protocols, wearing masks and sanitizing surfaces frequently.

He said areas like tennis courts are being opened because they are played at a reasonable distance, unlike contact sports such as basketball.

“I agree with the gyms not being opened, because there’s a lot of touching,” he added.

North Dakota

North Dakota, for its part, was never under a stay-at-home order, but many businesses were closed until “North Dakota Smart Restart” allowed them to reopen May 1. Businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms, hair salons and tattoo shops were able to open under guidelines to limit the number of people, maintain 6 feet between one another and cleaning protocols.

Currently, restaurants are limited to 50 percent capacity while movie theatres are operating at 20 percent capacity. For other event venues, facilities may operate at 50 percent of their normal occupancy, but are capped at 250 people.

Gov. Doug Burgum has also allowed for graduation ceremonies to be held using school facilities, with proper social distancing, cleaning and safety precautions. Schools in the state will be able to host summer school, driver’s education and other activities starting today, but schools may continue distance learning.

Kansas

In Kansas, the power of managing the reopening process shifted from Gov. Laura Kelly’s hands to that of individual health departments on May 26.

Kelly had a four-phase reopening plan in place. As of May 26, Kansas was in phase two of that plan, which limited social gatherings to 15 people and required some at-risk businesses to stay closed.

But because Kelly felt she had “no choice” but to veto a bill May 26 that would have limited her powers to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s emergency disaster declaration expired at midnight May 26, and with it, Kelly’s phased plan to gradually reopen the state ended too.

Going forward, counties in the state will have the option to comply with the plan or issue their own local orders, rather than following executive orders from the governor’s office.

In Douglas County, Kansas, the Unified Command COVID-19 response team agreed to adopt Kelly’s phase two as part of a local health order.

“This gives people of Douglas County the message that we’re going to stick with the current public health measures to guard against the spread of COVID-19 as part of a phased reopening, and we think it’s a good plan that is working in our area,” said Dr. Thomas Marcellino, the Douglas County health officer.