Walz decision on stay-at-home order due Thursday
Stay-at-home restrictions in place in Minnesota for a full month are expected to see additional loosening Thursday from Gov. Tim Walz, who has made clear he’s not ready to entirely roll back measures designed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Walz planned to detail his next steps at 2 p.m. His existing restrictions — as well as closure orders affecting bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues — are due to lapse first thing Monday.
The DFL governor, who has faced increasing pressure to let more people return to work and businesses to open their doors, strongly suggested Wednesday that he would permit more operations to restart soon as long as safety protocols are followed.
“I would preview to you that we’re going to continue on this pace of moving Minnesota into more opening if we can continue to show what we’re doing of social distancing and the state stepping up to be able to do the testing,” Walz said at an event in Worthington, Minn.
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On Monday, factories and office buildings without direct customer interactions were allowed to reopen if they adopted safety measures and health screenings for employees. Two weeks ago, he gave the go-ahead for golf courses, marinas, outdoor gun ranges and other recreationally themed businesses to crank up.
Walz said he’s trying to balance economic considerations against fears that COVID-19 cases could spike if society roars back to normal life too soon.
“It’s not like a light switch,” he said. “Trust me, if you’re the governor of Minnesota, shutting down your businesses is probably the last thing in the entire world you would want to do. Maybe next to shutting them down, opening them up and shutting them down again.”
Minnesota had seen 319 deaths as of Wednesday’s state report and 4,644 confirmed cases despite limited testing.
The governor said the stay-at-home restrictions had deliberately pushed out Minnesota’s peak and allowed hospitals to build up their capacity and equipment supplies in case of a surge. Walz said Minnesota had enough medical masks to last between 17 and 87 days depending on how fast serious cases stack up.
Walz appears unlikely to budge any time soon on the closures of dine-in restaurants and bars as well as sporting events and attractions that draw large crowds.
“Those large gatherings like football stadiums or packed bars, you saw my dial, those are going to be some of the last things,” Walz said. “If we can make a large plant function and we can do it without infecting people, we probably ought to be able to let the Ace Hardware store be able to sell a hammer with a couple people in the store. That’s how we’re thinking about it.”
On Wednesday, a group of small business owners sued over the Walz executive orders, arguing that the line between businesses deemed essential and not critical were unfair.
Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said the decisions have been based on data and national guidance while admittedly not a perfect system.
Grove said Walz is sensitive to concerns that independently owned stories haven’t been able to operate while some corporately owned chains have.
"We get it why a small business on Main Street isn’t open and they look down the street and a larger big-box store is. That’s challenging,” Grove said. “We have got to continue to look at these issues very closely and look for ways we can start to open up in a thoughtful way. We’re talking to small businesses across the state to get that right."
Grove wouldn’t get ahead of Walz when it comes to hair salons and eateries except to say, “when you have person-to-person contact inside an establishment, that is trickier and there are more challenges to that than if you are socially distancing inside of a store to purchase something and then leave.”
Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said even if more companies open their doors, the general guidance to Minnesotans about social distancing and limited travel will remain.
“The guidance to stay close to home and to restrict large gatherings, to restrict close contact with anyone outside of your immediate household, those things are going to stand by, be advised to be very careful when in a public setting wearing cloth masks for,” Malcolm said Wednesday. “Source control to protect each other, all of those things are going to continue to be focused messages.”