A spokesman for Fond du Lac County’s largest employer says even though the company is considered essential under the governor’s latest order, a decision to suspend manufacturing operations for a couple weeks will stand. Starting last week Mercury Marine and the Brunswick Corporation suspended some of it’s operations due to the coronavirus outbreak. Merc spokesman Lee Gordon says many of the distribution plants will continue to operate and salaried employees who are working at home will continue to do so. “We want to make sure that our manufacturing facility remains closed for the safety and health of our employees,” Gordon told WFDL news. “Even though technically due to the order we are able to manufacture we’re going to continue to remain shut down for a couple weeks.” Meanwhile, Gordon says the company continues to mourn the loss of longtime employee Dale Witkowski. Witkowski was the first Wisconsin resident to die from the coronavirus earlier this month. “There wasn’t a person at Mercury that I knew that this didn’t impact in some way,” Gordon told WFDL news. “You don’t plan for anything like this. Dale had been there for 35 years. He was a fixture at Mercury.”
