ST. PAUL, Minn. (KTTC) — We are only days into Minnesota’s statewide mask mandate and while a lot of people are wearing masks, there also remains some strong resistance.

“The biggest factor has been and will continue to be the choices and behaviors of us, of we Minnesotans, together and individually,” said Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

Officials are stressing that wearing a mask isn’t just about one person.

“So to be clear, we’re not asking Minnesotans to mask up for the health department, or for our elected leaders, or for the big cities in Minnesota,” Malcolm said. “We’re asking Minnesotans to mask up to protect their own health, their own families, their friends, their neighbors and local businesses.”

There are exemptions to the mandate. Officials are telling businesses that if someone says they have a medical exemption, the business should honor that.

“And if you are somebody who does have a medical condition that makes it difficult for you to breathe, it’s more important that you know that you would have a difficult time wearing a mask rather than that you had a condition that was on a list,” said Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann.

And it could take a few weeks before we see how this mandate will impact coronavirus infection rares in the state.

“And we know based on patterns of transmission that any intervention, like masks, will take a little while to show it’s impact,” Ehresmann said. “The cases we are reporting this week, reflect the spread that took place in the last two weeks. So we need to keep that in mind as we watch case number over the coming weeks. We would expect that the impact of the masking requirement would kick in at least three weeks from now.”

State health officials are noticing a lot of graduations and other outdoor gatherings this summer. It’s still recommended that anyone participating stay socially distant and to wear a mask, especially if staying six feet away from other people is not possible.