Gov. Tim Walz is expected to lay out the next steps in the state’s COVID-19 response Wednesday, with an eye toward mitigating what has become the rampant spread of the pandemic across Minnesota.
Spokesperson Teddy Tschann said the governor plans to announce a strategy Wednesday afternoon “that prioritizes in-person learning for elementary students and continues to protect health care capacity by keeping indoor dining at bars and restaurants on pause through the holiday season.”
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday in November, Walz issued an executive order that imposed four weeks of statewide restrictions on bars, restaurants, sports and entertainment venues, wedding receptions and gatherings of people from multiple households. Those restrictions are scheduled to expire on Friday.
The order put organized sports on pause, but allowed professional and college sports to continue, with certain restrictions. Retail stores, salons, places of worship and other activities continued to operate unchanged, under restrictions already in place.
According to people briefed on the governor’s planned announcement, Walz will let the closure order on health clubs lapse, so they can reopen Saturday. But visitors to fitness centers will be required to wear masks throughout and will have to keep extra distance between themselves and other patrons.
Youth sports teams will be allowed to resume practices on Jan. 4, the people given advance details say, but games won’t be allowed until later.
When the restrictions went into place in November, Minnesota was in the throes of some of its worst days of COVID-19’s surge across the state since the pandemic began, frequently breaking records on daily case numbers, deaths and hospitalizations. The virus’ unmitigated spread put immense pressure on health care workers and hospitals.
By the end of November, roughly 60 percent of Minnesota’s K-12 students were in distance learning — more than double the rate from early October. Many schools pivoted to remote instruction just before Thanksgiving break.
Walz’s plans to extend the curbs he put in place last month come after glimmers of hope in recent days that the virus’ fall surge across the state might be abating, if only slightly. Tuesday’s COVID-19 data showed new caseloads and hospitalizations continuing to retreat from their recent highs — cautiously positive news on new COVID-19 caseloads and hospitalizations.
Tschann said the latest plan, the details of which the governor plans to announce early Wednesday afternoon, is meant to “help bridge the gap to vaccination.”
After receiving final federal approvals over the weekend, the Pfizer pharmaceutical company began distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine — the country’s first — with shipments arriving in a handful of Minnesota hospitals and clinics Monday.
Already, health care workers at Indian Health Service clinics in Cass Lake and White Earth have received their first doses of the vaccination, as have a handful of workers at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. Front-line workers at hospitals and residents of skilled nursing facilities statewide are expected to begin receiving the first dose of the vaccine sometime late this week or early next.
The vaccinations mark a new chapter in the pandemic, which has gripped the state since early March. The state Health Department has rolled out its plans for prioritizing the first available doses of the two-dose vaccine for the people around the state who need it most, whether by virtue of their work or of their circumstance.
Members of the general public are expected to have access to the vaccine sometime in the spring or summer of 2021.
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.
The coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets, coughs and sneezes, similar to the way the flu can spread.
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