Monday, April 6
3:30 p.m.
Gov. Tim Walz says he's looking at how to "tweak" his Stay at Home order as he weighs the decision about whether to extend it.
Walz has said that he'll make a decision by midweek. The current order is scheduled to end Friday at 5 p.m.
Walz said Monday on his daily briefing call with state health officials that he is looking at how to "tweak" the order, as he learns what is working and what's not in the fight to slow the spread of coronavirus. He said aligning with the federal guidance to continue through the end of April is "a good starting point," but that he'll let the most recent data drive the decision.
"I certainly don't want to build up a false hope that this is going to be quicker and it's gonna be removed," he said. "And I also don't want to set this too far out where people get frustrated and say 'Well, how do you know? A lot can change by May.' So we'll try and strike that proper balance."
The governor said that he's considering requests from certain business sectors that argue they can continue working while implementing social distance, and weighing concerns about clusters of people in outdoor recreational spaces.
Walz announced Monday that the state of Minnesota has set up a discrimination hotline in response to an increase in calls, especially about harassment and crimes directed toward the Asian American community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The toll-free helpline, 1-833-454-0148, is staffed Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and will allow people to report bias and discrimination incidents to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. If you are the victim of a crime or fear for your safety, you should still call 911 immediately.
On their daily briefing call, Gov. Tim Walz and state health and emergency officials updated the public on the COVID-19 response in Minnesota, saying that we currently have the lowest infection rate in the country, at 17 cases per 100,000 people.
"I don't want people to get complacent," Walz said, saying Minnesota is still preparing for a surge. He also reiterated that we are still "blinded by lack of testing."
As far as the progress preparing for that surge, Minnesota's Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Joe Kelly said his team has made progress in identifying 2,700 potential beds at 27 facilities that could be used for overflow hospital capacity.
Kelly said many of them are at old nursing homes or hospitals, which is "good news." He said they may execute a plan to "stand up" a few of those sites ahead of time, so that they learn how to do it, and develop some metrics on how big these sites need to be and when they need to go up.
Walz said he is "still not not comfortable" that Minnesota has the ICU beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment that will be needed when COVID-19 cases peak in the state.
Those are the primary goals state officials are working toward as they try to slow the spread of the virus with the governor's "Stay at Home" order.
"I can't afford to be too short and I can't afford to be too late," he said. "I still think that we've got work to do."
Both Walz and Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm cautioned against relying on a model put out by the University of Washington, saying that it may be overly optimistic.
"Those that want to lean toward overly optimistic modeling could be making the same mistakes in the criticism about leaning toward overly pessimistic models," he said. "The only problem is, an overly pessimistic model, yes we'll end up with more hospital beds than we might need. That is a much better scenario than ending up with too few."
Malcolm said that they are concerned that people are not going to the emergency room, even with life-threatening conditions, because of fear of being exposed to COVID-19. Malcolm reminded the public that if you are having a medical emergency, you should call 911 just as you would have done before.
Malcolm also weighed in on the use of homemade masks, as the CDC has issued new guidance that the public should wear them.
"We just want to keep reinforcing that people who are sick need to stay at home and isolate," Malcolm said. "In no way does this guidance lessen the importance of the stay at home directive."
She reminded the public that masks do not protect the wearer - they help prevent the wearer from passing on their own germs to others.
"Your mask protects me, my mask protects you," Malcolm said.
MDH is asking that people save medical grade and N95 masks for health care workers and first responders, and instead use cloth or homemade masks.
Walz also issued an executive order Monday directed at approximately 45,000 people who are "stuck" in the unemployment application queue because they are currently using vacation or sick time. Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said that order allows those benefits to go through, clearing up time and space for other applicants to get through on the heavily used phone lines.
11 a.m.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported 51 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the state total to 986.
One additional death was announced Monday, for a total of 30 deaths in the state.
MDH says 115 people are hospitalized and 57 are in the ICU. That's up from 106 hospitalized and 48 patients in intensive care on Sunday. Two hundred and twenty-three people have required hospitalization since the outbreak began.
Of the nearly 1,000 people who have had cases confirmed in Minnesota, 470 no longer need to be isolated as of Monday.
More than 28,000 people in Minnesota have been tested for COVID-19, with 8,876 of those in the MDH Public Health Lab and 19,252 in external laboratories.
The median age of all cases is 50, and the median age of people who have died is 86. The youngest person to test positive was 4 months old, and the oldest was 104 years old.
Community transmission is now considered the likely cause of 34% of cases. The second most likely cause is known exposure to a case, at 24%.
Hennepin County has now had 280 known cases, and 14 deaths. Olmsted and Ramsey Counties have had 96 cases, and two and three deaths, respectively. Dakota County has had 67 cases and two deaths, and Washington County 65 cases and one death. A full county-by-county list is available on the MDH website.
Gov. Walz, Lt. Gov. Flanagan launch Discrimination Help Line
Amid rising reports of discrimination against Minnesota's Asian American community, Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan on Monday launched a Discrimination Helpline to protect the civil rights of victims during the COVID-19 pandemic. The toll-free helpline, which is at 1-833-454-0148, will allow those who experience or witness bias and discrimination to report incidents to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The helpline is staffed Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“Minnesotans are resilient people who support their neighbors when the going gets tough,” said Walz. “As Asian Americans in Minnesota report heightened cases of discrimination amid COVID-19, my message is clear: Viruses don’t discriminate, and neither do we.”
“There’s a distinct pattern in our nation’s history of increased discrimination during uncertain and trying times, of needing someone to blame,” said Lt. Governor Flanagan. “This is unacceptable and, as Minnesotans, we must work to break this cycle.”
Minnesotans can either call the hotline, or complete and submit this online form. Translation/interpretation services are available.
Sunday, April 5
2 p.m.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports 2,267 total positive cases of coronavirus as of Sunday, April 5, up from 2,112 on Saturday. The number of Wisconsin residents who have died from COVID-19 is at 68, up from 56 on Saturday.
Health officials say 624 people are hospitalized.
A more detailed breakdown of cases by county can be found on the DHS website.
11 a.m.
The Minnesota Department of Health reports 70 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state, with five additional deaths.
Health officials say the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is now at 935.
Officials say five more patients have died, bringing the state's total to 29 deaths.
MDH provided these details about the five deaths:
- An 87-year-old resident of Olmsted County
- A 90-year-old resident of Washington County
- An 83-year-old resident of Dakota County
- An 88-year-old resident of Hennepin County
- A 67-year-old resident of Hennepin County
"We can never forget that these numbers are in fact beloved family members, friends and neighbors who are mourned," Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm said in Sunday's news release. "We express our condolences and our commitment to continuing the work of protecting Minnesotans the best we can. It is very important for all Minnesotans to do their part in that effort by following social distancing guidelines and other public health recommendations."
According to the Sunday news release, MDH "is not scheduling a formal media briefing call for Sunday."
Four-hundred and fifty-one patients no longer need to be isolated, meanwhile, 202 cases required hospitalization. Currently, 106 patients are being hospitalized and 48 patients are in intensive care, according to the release.
Health officials say the counties of residence of the 70 new cases are as follows: Hennepin (15); Ramsey (12), Washington (8), Dakota (7), Olmsted (7), Goodhue (2), St. Louis (2), Beltrami (1), Blue Earth (1), Crow Wing (1), Fillmore (1), Houston (1), Isanti (1), Pipestone (1), Scott (1), Sherburne (1), Watonwan (1), Winona (1), and Wright (1).
Officials say county of residence data was not immediately available for five cases.
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The state of Minnesota has set up a hotline for general questions about coronavirus at 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903, available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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