ST PAUL, Minn. — After Minnesota reached a record number of single-day cases two days in a row this week, bringing the state's total to 160,923 since the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. Tim Walz wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to request staffing support for hospitals and long-term care facilities.
In his letter to FEMA, Walz described the state's need to extend current federal staffing support for 30 more days.
He also asked FEMA to provide 10 more medical professionals to Minnesota, to be stationed at facilities experiencing staffing shortages due to the rise in positive cases across the state and the impact of community spread on health care workers.
“Minnesota’s case counts are on the rise, which means the need for staffing support will continue to increase,” Gov. Walz wrote in the letter. “Securing this additional staffing support, in addition to extending the current staffing support on the ground in Minnesota, would significantly assist our state during this tenuous time.”
The Minnesota Department of Health has also established a crisis staffing team, expanded the use of the Minnesota National Guard, provided emergency staffing pay incentives and worked to secure additional staffing agencies.
