MPR News will have live coverage of Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks at noon. You can watch the announcement live here at noon:
Around the country, governors have made a big deal out of putting coronavirus restrictions behind them. Several have declared a date-certain for erasing those that remain.
Now it’s Tim Walz’s turn.
He will lay out what his office described as “a timeline to end all COVID-19 restrictions in Minnesota.” He’s set to explain the reasons for the steps he’s taking during an address at noon Thursday.
“We’re coming close to the end, but I ask Minnesotans, we have just a little ways to go here,” Walz said earlier this week, adding that the public can expect a summer that’s close to normal.
Behind the loosening of restrictions is the state’s relatively high vaccination rate, which Walz and public health officials said helped head off another crippling wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
“The governor is rightly reflecting the impact of the positive changes that have been made and certainly the fact that it’s summer and we love to be outdoors in the summer is part of that optimism, too,” said Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.
Still, people might want to temper their expectations for dramatic changes overnight. Even if the remaining curbs are dropped in short order, businesses that have been tied down will need time to ramp back up.
The Minnesota Twins have already sold most of their tickets for May, and team president and CEO Dave St. Peter said it would be difficult to rearrange the Target Field seating pattern on the fly.
“I’m not sure we’d be able to take advantage of it until we get to June because we’ve already ticketed our building with the 10,000 max for the month of May,” St. Peter said. “We’ve learned to be nimble during the pandemic. But I’m not sure we’re going to be able to be that nimble.”
Since April, the ballclub has offered tickets in pods of two and four with ample space in between groups.
“Unless the social distancing requirement changes,” St. Peter said, “we’re in essence maxed out at 10,000 fans.”
It’s a similar predicament for bars and restaurants. Currently, they can operate at 75 percent capacity up to a certain number of patrons overall, even on outdoor patios.
Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association executive director Tony Chesak said squeezing in more tables with 6-foot spacing is a tall order. And for his industry, staffing tables and kitchen jobs is also an ongoing challenge.
“One of my members in Minneapolis lost almost his entire kitchen staff about two months ago to a commercial painting company because his people just couldn’t hold out anymore for more hours and more pay,” Chesak said. “And so it’s become that with our industry. We just can’t find people. And a lot of people have already moved on.”
Attention to safety will remain, Chesak said, because those measures are key to assuring confidence of the dining public. A green light from public leaders will build confidence, too, he said.
“Folks who are listening to Gov. Walz and his guidance will be given a bit of encouragement, we’re hoping, if he does ease off on some of the restrictions to get this consumer confidence back,” Chesak said. “Because it’s going to take time to even heal that part of it as well.”
Gyms, yoga studios and other fitness clubs must abide by occupancy caps as well that relate to their venue size. The same goes for reception spaces for wedding celebrations or other private parties.
Changes in those areas are likely.
A complete end to the mask-use mandate could still be further down the road. Walz has often said it will be one of the last things to go. But the governor is signaling that he believes the virus can be managed going forward without the kind of wide-scale measures of the past year.
“We’ll have a low level of maintenance on COVID probably years into the future, much like we do with the flu,” Walz said, “but it will not be that top priority and it won’t take extraordinary methods.”
Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health’s cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the Health Department website.
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