REGIONAL —Minnesotans will now need to stay at home for all but essential activities or outdoor exercise until May 4 in an effort to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Gov. Tim Walz announced that extension of his current stay-home order on Wednesday. His previous stay-home order, issued March 27, had been set to expire this today.
His order also extends the takeout-only requirement for bars and restaurants until May 4. The governor had previously indicated that his order would continue through May 1. The state’s schools were already set to remain closed through May 4 and the governor made no new announcement on school closures in his briefing on Wednesday, although most school officials are anticipating that the classes will be limited to online-only through the end of the school year.
“What we are doing is working,” said Governor Walz. “We are taking this seriously, and we are staying home. While Minnesota is showing lower rates of infection than our peers across the country, now is not the time to let up or allow that trajectory to change. Updated federal guidance and our own public health experts are showing that if we keep staying home, we will save lives – which is why I made the data-driven decision to extend the stay-home order until May 4.”
As the Timberjay reports this week, Minnesota has achieved the lowest rate of infection per capita of any state in the country— at least to date. News of the stay-at-home extension comes on the same day deaths linked to COVID-19 in Minnesota rose to 39 as of Wednesday, an increase of five since the day before. The total number of cases in the state jumped to 1,154, up 85.
Meanwhile, St. Louis County officials announced 11 new cases in the county on Wednesday, pushing the total to 28. And for the first time, county officials can’t find an obvious source for some of the recent infections, which suggests that the county is now experiencing community spread.
Most of the new cases in the county are confined to St. Ann’s Residence, an assisted living facility in Duluth, although county officials have indicated cases have shown up in both rural and urban parts of the county.
Gov. Walz’s order to stay home is forecasted to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19, pushing out the peak of the disease to mid-July and allowing the state to continue key preparations for the pandemic. These preparations include building new hospital capacity and buying ventilators and masks, planning for how to protect those most at risk, expanding testing, and freeing up time for health care giants like the Mayo Clinic to develop critical treatments for the virus.
While deaths and cases continued to rise, the number of people in intensive care — a key indicator of the state’s ability to manage the spread — stayed unchanged from Tuesday at 64, according to data posted by the state Health Department.