There was only one official reason why the Minnesota Legislature returned to special session Monday: to pass judgment on Gov. Walz’s fourth 30-day extension of the declaration of peacetime emergency to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. And that’s all the Minnesota Legislature did.
While not giving up on reaching an agreement on a handful of other issues, House and Senate leaders said they weren’t quite there on a deal yet. Both House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka suggested the two sides keep working and return to St. Paul on July 20.
So the only official action was a Senate debate on a resolution to remove Walz’s emergency declaration. In the end, the vote was 35-31, with just one DFLer, Sen. Kent Eken of Twin Valley, voting with Republicans to pass the resolution. When and if the DFL-controlled House takes up the proposal to overturn the emergency declaration, it will vote it down, however, giving Walz a victory by a score of 1-1. That’s what happened on June 13, the last time the Legislature had to consider the issue. And it is likely what will happen come August 13, should Walz again extend the emergency again.
Yet even if Monday’s result was essentially predetermined by the politics of the Legislature — with the Senate controlled by Republicans who generally oppose the extension and the House by DFLers who generally support it — the Senate debate offered a stark reminder of vast differences between the parties about the pandemic and the government’s response to it.
GOP: Walz’s use of powers ‘dictatorial’
Republican leaders in the Senate have mostly based their opposition to the emergency declaration around constitutional and economic issues. Gazelka said that Minnesota’s emergency powers law was meant for relatively brief emergencies when a governor needs to act quickly and decisively, such as due to a flood or other natural disasters. And while he supported Walz’s use of those powers in March, the East Gull Lake Republican says the state’s improving case numbers show that need has subsided.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka[/image_caption]
While closing schools and large swaths of the economy was understandable when the virus was still a mystery and when hospitals had to gear up for an expected flood of patients, Gazelka said, the growth rates have been slowed, and hospitals now have increased capacity of beds and supplies.
Gazelka also noted that most of the 1,504 people who have died of COVID-19 in Minnesota are elderly or had pre-existing health conditions and that none have been under the age of 20.
He also highlighted two issues that have taken on prominence, here and nationally: mask mandates and school reopenings. “Giving the governor emergency powers means that he decides whether schools will be open this fall or not — not your local school district, not your school administrators, but the governor,” he said. “But we know we need kids back in the classrooms.”
Later, he added: “We are willing to shut down schools when not one person under 20 has died.”
[image_caption]State Sen. Michelle Benson[/image_caption]
What triggered the session was not the unfinished work of the regular and first special sessions, after all, but the legal requirement that lawmakers have the opportunity to pass judgment on any extensions of emergency powers, she said. “Covid is still very serious,” Benson said. “But emergency powers give the governor’s decisions the force of law without the benefit of public debate, without the benefit of us as Legislators … having a say.”
But while Gazelka and Benson said they consider the pandemic to be a significant issue, other Senate Republicans expressed doubts about the seriousness of the dangers posed by COVID-19 — and the efficacy of the state’s response.
Some senators, for instance, portrayed Walz’s use of powers as dictatorial. “It’s time to restore Minnesota to the Minnesotans and let us be freemen and freewomen,” said Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka.
Freedom was a common theme. Sen. Andrew Mathews, R-Milaca, said he objects to his position being described as a desire to get back to the way things were before the virus. “I can’t recall one person in my district asking me, ‘Senator, help us get back to normal,’” Mathews said. “I do hear many people standing up and asking me, ‘Senator, let’s get back to freedom.’”
[image_caption]State Sen. Scott Jensen[/image_caption]
Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, described “an emergence of dictatorial powers coming from the governor’s office” and said it was “time to stop this unintended social experiment that’s taking place with our children.
“What do we think can happen when you take a group to three-to-10 year olds and you surround them with adults who wear masks, you have the TV playing with fear mongering, with all the media people, you separate families and then you tell kids you’re not going to school, you’re not going to see your playmates?” he asked.
Jensen, a medical doctor, compared COVID-19 to the flu and said the recent infections of 20 to 50 years old will help move the country toward herd immunity.
And Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, took issue with the idea that COVID-19 was historic and unprecedented, saying outbreaks of Ebola and SARS were far more serious. “What is historic and unprecedented is the governor’s response to this,” Kiffmeyer said, adding that her constituents “feel like they are being treated as children in a paternalistic society.”
‘When they hear about ‘One Minnesota,’ what they really hear is ‘One Minneapolis for all of Minnesota,’” Kiffmeyer said, while questioning the effectiveness of masks and the usefulness of any future vaccine.
Senate DFLers: Denial is not a strategy
For their part, DFLers have pointed out that governors in 49 of 50 states, both Republican and Democratic, have retained emergency powers. And that Minnesota’s relatively good COVID-19 numbers are evidence of the effectiveness of the response — not a rationale for ending the emergency, which would take away every executive order Walz has signed under his emergency powers, orders that now include: a suspension of bidding rules to allow the state to purchase supplies quickly; an eviction moratorium; the testing consortium with the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic; feeding programs for children and seniors; paid leave for those who become sick (or those who care for the sick); and child care for critical workers and other emergency responders.
On Monday, DFLers in the Senate knew that the resolution would pass, but they also knew it would be blocked by the House. Even so, they did try to rebut many if not all of the assertions made by Senate Republicans. “This resolution is akin to sticking your head in the sand,” said Sen. Jason Isaacson, DFL-Shoreview, who pointed to states in the South and West that have seen huge increases in infections as a result of reopening their economies.
[image_caption]Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen[/image_caption]
Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen, DFL-Edina, voted in favor of the Republican resolution on June 13 but voted against on Monday. Her reason: because the Senate has failed to step up and play a stronger role in pandemic response decision-making. That would mean holding hearings on reopening schools and businesses instead of probing the toppling of the Christopher Columbus statue or the state’s response to looting and arson following the homicide of George Floyd, issues that have consumed hours of a joint Senate committee over the last two weeks.
“We do not have this pandemic under control,” she said. “I remember years ago we said hope is not a strategy. Well, neither is denial.” And she said he refused to let her five-year-old son be a political pawn in the partisan debate over schools.
“Let’s stop politicizing and weaponizing a pandemic,” she said.
Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, said emergency powers are meant to give the government the authority to act quickly, citing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who reversed his reopening of bars and issue a mask mandate in 72 hours in the midst of a surge of cases that required the Houston Chronicle to publish a special 42-page section of obituaries.
“We need to be nimble. We need the executive to be ready to act,” Frenz said. “No disrespect to our Legislature, but it’s not the speediest device ever created.”
The constant question when it comes to the refuse pile that has become the Republican Party isw “are you really that stupid?” The bar just keeps getting lower and the answer is always a discouraging “yes.” If you ar delusional enough to imagine that Fox is the only valid news source in the country, you will never be of any use to this nation. You might as well be listening to Rossiya 1 and Rossiya K, since Putin has about the same concern for the safety of the American people as does Fox and that ilk.
The argument that no student under age 20 has dies (according to Sen. Gazelka) makes perfect sense as long as you assume that they aren’t transmitting covid-19 to the larger community and that there aren’t teachers and other staff at risk. What bothers me most is that those arguing most adamantly for opening the schools are (as Sen. Franzen said) in denial. What I haven’t seen is “We need to open schools in the fall and: 1) here are the conditions that are necessary to do that, 2) here are the specific steps we take to do that safely and 3) here are the factors that we will use to gauge it’s ongoing safety and effectiveness.
As to the broader question of emergency powers, I would think the exponential increase in cases in Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Arizona would make the need for a rapid response a no-brainer.
I agree with your comment, but we should mention the fact COVID 19 has killed a lot people younger than 20, so as usual, Gazelka is simply wrong… again.
Republicans decided to waste time on a totally pointless argument, as they knew the outcome going into it. It is all election year politics. They should be embarrassed to cash their per diems.
Identify one policy idea Rrpublicanshave suggested to fight the pandemic? How about one policy idea that helps small business? One idea that promotes policing without racial profiling or excessive force? One idea to promote affordable housing, equal educational opportunities, living wages, or really anything?
What they want is the freedom to finger point and block progress on important issues like the bonding bill. The freedom to be lazy and indifferent People can do that without government help.
What happens in other states isn’t relevant in MN. If 48 other Governors jumped off a bridge would the DFL expect Walz to follow? The emergency has passed. There is no reason to continue the emergency powers. The legislature can work with Walz if something needs to be done. The whole point according to Walz was to delay the surge/bend the curve. That was done long ago.
Funny Bob.
“The legislature can work with Walz if something needs to be done.” Thank you for that. It is a gloomy day and many of us needed a good laugh.
The GOP’ers come screaming and kicking back to the special sessions. There is ZERO chance our split legislature will get anything done if suddenly needed – such as in Texas and Florida.
And another good laugh over the “48 governors jumping off a bridge” analogy of another commenter. Any takers on a wager of whether our GOP friends would be on board with giving up emergency powers if our governor was of their parry? When 48 of 50 governors currently have those powers? Again, zero chance.
GOP, let the Dems know when you seriously want to talk and compromise and get something done.
The emergency has not passed. The economy will not get back on track until we have gotten ahead of this. Other countries have done that, but we have a president who has failed his entire life and he is failing here.
And now that the crisis is past, Gazelka and his band want to open up everything, so we can be like Florida. No thank you. I’ll stick with the dictator, especially when the elected folks in the Senate are not using their critical thinking skills.
The moral indifference and intellectual bankruptcy of MN Republicans is stunning to behold.
Take Republic Senator Scott Jensen.
1. “Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, described “an emergence of dictatorial powers coming from the governor’s office””
-The hyperbolic silliness of this claim is equalled by it lack of supporting evidence.
2. “…and said it was “time to stop this unintended social experiment that’s taking place with our children.”
-“Social experiment” has it exactly backwards. Which is the experiment more fraught with danger: Exposing children and adults to the risk of death and potential lifelong health complications or postponing in-person school until we have better control of the virus?
3. “…you have the TV playing with fear mongering…”
This is silly on its face. It implies deliberate intent to manipulate on the part of the media, and implies that Jensen believes a conspiracy is afoot. But, as we see with the foolhardy protests against lockdowns, the refusal to wear masks or social distance, the barrage of misinformation prevalent in conservative media, and America’s failure to contain the virus, the media apparently hasn’t gone far enough.
4. “Jensen, a medical doctor, compared COVID-19 to the flu…”
This represents either sheer scientific illiteracy or psychological bias, or both. Does Jensen even grasp that just because we label a biological entity a ‘virus’ it doesn’t follow that all viruses are the same or have similar physiological effects? How is it that any legislator at the state level could be confused over this? There are an enormous number of different viruses in nature. The ones we’re aware of have widely varying health effects. To claim at any point in the past two months (at least) that COVID-19 is comparable to the flu is shockingly ignorant if not outright dishonest.
5. Jensen “said the recent infections of 20 to 50 years old will help move the country toward herd immunity.”
If we’re taking a scientifically informed approach to the pandemic, then we have to constantly update our understanding on the basis of emerging research. One recent finding published in the Lancet is that herd immunity is not a viable strategy with COVID-19:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/07/herd-immunity-questioned-after-spanish-coronavirus-antibody-study.html
It has to be asked: Is Jensen capable of changing his mental model of COVID-19 and related public health issue, or is his hyper-partisan bias so strong that he’ll ignore inconvenient information and facts?
And then we have statements from Republicans indicating an almost moral disregard of COVID-19 deaths. How else is one to interpret statements like:
“Gazelka also noted that most of the 1,504 people who have died of COVID-19 in Minnesota are elderly or had pre-existing health conditions and that none have been under the age of 20.”
Or,
[Republican Andrew] Mathews also said 1,504 deaths is “not very many at all,””
How unredeemably corrupt and moronic must American society be to have allowed this virus to be politicized at all. Alas, the Republicans are almost entirely to blame.
I think what’s past is your paying attention to the news.
Seriously? Using the, “If someone jumped off a bridge,” argument? I suppose it is better than bringing up Obama or just spouting claims based on some article you gleaned from right-wing media that goes against what the overwhelming number of doctors, scientists, and public health experts are tellling us.
In your hypothetical, which governor would not be jumping off the bridge? He or she might not be the best guide to the wisdom of staying on the bridge.
” The Bickersons” provide their own best reasons to let Gov. Walz continue the very good job that he has been doing.
The ignorance and denial from so many makes me think that we’ll probably see numbers continue ticking upward as cases up in ” Lake Country ” spread out from the indiscriminate and unknowing.
I would very much appreciate release of the numbers of new cases by county. That may be being done now but if so not in a recognizable format.
Please allow me to correct myself.
I found a link in MinnPost’s daily COVID update that does indeed list cases by county; a most excellent portrayal.
So Gazelka and his cohorts in the Senate say the hospitals are well supplied with PPE. Yet my son, a critical care nurse in St. Paul who deals with Covid patients is supposed to use his N95 mask 10 times! And when his supervisor suggested he get a Covid test, his hospital refused his request because their supplies are too limited…he must exhibit symptoms before he can get tested.
And it gets worse: His wife, an OB/GYN recently gave an examination to a patient who notified her immediately afterward that the latter’s husband had tested Covid positive. And when the patient was tested, she too tested positive. So the doc asked to be tested and was told the same thing: Testing supplies are too limited so you cannot be tested unless you exhibit symptoms. So she and my son continue to see patients, even though they both could be infected and carriers.
But Gazelka and the Republicans says there are plenty of PPE’s and supplies. Obviously, they are either ill-informed or lying.
Funny how these “pro life” politicians have so little regard for life such that they’ll lie about, distort or turn a blind eye to evidence that doesn’t fit their political calculations.
COVID-19 has revealed the depraved depths to which the Republicans will go for partisan advantage.
My son has to get weekly allergy injections and the clinic we go to prescreens us by phone before each weekly appointment and we can’t even get in the door of the clinic without being screened again. So to have a patient tell the doctor post treatment that they have COVID doesn’t sound right. The patient must have lied prior to the appointment. Perhaps on multiple occasions. So either the patient was lying or this story is embellished.
Nope. I have friends who are nurses who have told similar stories. This is the reality.
That we still do not have adequate testing capabilities is a national scandal & reason enough to dump Don “I can’t remember which foot had bone spurs” Trump.
When did we become a third world country?
Very wrong of the hospital for not testing the provider.
What about the patient? I say charge her with attempted murder of the provider and everyone with whom she came in close contact since finding out her husband tested positive.
Several days ago in the daily COVID update people were cautioned against getting serial tests for COVID. Who are the people getting serial tests? It sounds difficult to get even one.
Not difficult to see the inane repub response when despite this pandemic, with many of them older, refusing to wear masks. I don’t believe repubs care about us…not even a smidgen.
Well, Trump can grab all the power he wants and Republican’s have no complaints, but that kind of hypocrisy has long since been a standard feature of their mentality.
The problem with this scenario is that Republicans prefer the Florida/Texas model to ours… and that’s irrational and ignorant… which is also a standard feature…
Let me get this straight. One political party says the governor is dictatorial, even though the things he is dictating have kept Minnesota much healthier than too many other states. That same party does not want to wear masks in spite of the headlines out of Florida and Arizona whose governors did NOT take our governor’s approach in responding to the virus, and they are now paying the price. That same party wants to open schools where lots of people breathe the same air in the same closed space, though they haven’t offered a healthy way to do it, possibly because there isn’t one. And that’s the party that wants to take the powers away from a governor who listens to science. So, implicitly, they want to have the power to say we don’t need to social distance or wear masks or do any of that other nonsense our friends in Arizona don’t have to do. And THOSE folks down there have lots of freedom, right?
I’m trying to fit this puzzle together but the pieces just don’t fit. Help me, someone. What am I missing?
There isn’t a single piece of data showing any of Walz’s actions have kept even a single Minnesotan safe or saved a single life. None, zero, zip nada.
Back calculating R0 showed it peaked in mid March before his stay at home order went into effect. It also shows that the rate of decline in R0 didn’t change once stay at home went into effect. It also shows that states with no stay at home orders had the same R0 value as states that did.
There is also no science behind social distancing as even Oxford has come saying there’s no difference between 1 meter apart and 2 meters. There are several professors that have also claimed no science behind it. The laws of physics and testing also proves it. Your breath travels a lot farther than 6 feet, esp if you sneeze or cough (studies show it goes upwards of 20 feet).
There is also zero science or data showing this to be an aerosol virus. It doesn’t follow the same laws/patterns of all airborne viruses…namely how they relate to absolute humidity. The reason we have cold and flu season in the fall/winter is due to humidity… low humidity allows aerosol viruses to spread easily (flu, cold). Higher humidity prevents it as we can see we have few if any colds or flu in the summer. This link was established a decade or more ago. Covid19 has hit arid and humid places the same. It’s not an aerosol transmission virus. So masks are useless. Also we have scores of randomized controlled trials showing mask have no effect on preventing virus infection. The CDC has a paper on their site from May 2020 showing the same with 14 such trials cited.
The virus has been spreading in spite of Walz’s actions. There was never any threat of overloading the hospitals. The data proves it. The models were so ridiculously wrong that whoever made them should never be listened to again.
Bob, the data and analysis not only exist but it’s overwhelming. You’re obviously not aware of it, and maybe not capable of understanding the science behind it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Don’t ask for examples because if you’re still this uneducated and misinformed this far into the crises, I wouldn’t expect anyone to try to explain it. If we were two or three weeks, into this, I might give it a try, but 6 months? You have to be deliberately avoiding reliable information.
By the way, this isn’t a debate game, this is a real pandemic, killing real people.
My god is this nonsense. The states that have implemented tighter mask and distancing requirements have brought their numbers under control, while places like Florida and Texas that didn’t have seen their cases explode. The disparity is even bigger between countries that have taken measures and those that haven’t.
The sad part is that Republicans think their science denial is helping the economy, when the opposite is true. Failed businessman Trump has damaged the economy for years to come.
Almost every single word of this is false.
Sir, you appear to be in denial.
Europe has shown us that masks and social distancing works, as has China , Singapore and South Korea. When these strategies were discontinued in Asia, infections and deaths increased.
You devoted maybe forty-five minutes to writing your comment, above, with little credibility to show for it. Are you a fervent reader of international and national news? Do you follow patterns that are apparent in other parts of the world? It doesn’t appear so….
Just curious, how does Minnesota’s infection rate and number of deaths compare to the number in Wisconsin? They have about the same population and same basic urban/rural mix. Wisconsin has also had a completely different response than Minnesota, so it would be good to see how Minnesota compares and use that to judge the response.
Our numbers are higher at the moment, about double WI, but WI is experiencing a much bigger surge right now after they’re supreme court ruling, they will likely catch up.
In order to understand the reasons for the differences, and why MN had higher numbers, you have to look at population concentration and density, not simply relative numbers. WI doesn’t have a metro area comparable to the Twin Cities, denser population centers get hit harder and early on. Even within MN you can see concentrations in the larger population centers before the virus spread out into the rural areas.
Another job of putting the next election ahead of public safety or public concerns. It’s so funny that the GOP has absolutely no compunction to limit women’s rights, safety of Black people in the streets of the Twin Cities, or the right to vote which is guaranteed in the constitution. They say those are necessary protections against “someone” or “something”.
The governor exercising sane judgment when they are not capable of it is not despotic behavior, it is called adult behavior. And when the GOP can start acting that way, we can start listening.
The picture of Daudt lounging with no mask in the chambers is a great sign of his stupidity and arrogance, which seems to be his MO. No concern for anyone else, just his overweening arrogance and complete lack of concern for anyone who might disagree with him.
The money it takes to sue the Governor is being raised by a Facebook GoFundMe.
The GoFundMe campaign is run by MN House Rep. Jeremy Munson, but it is not clear that this is ethical or merely a political fundraiser that will ultimately pay off very well for the effort if people can be convinced to contribute to a StopWalz raison d’être.
Which lawyers will receive the money? Will they pay court costs? Who is the injured party? Is it all Republicans or just those who lost business due to a Walz emergency order?
Is it NOT an emergency when so many are sick and dying and the best excuses to “open up” imply that “only” old sick people are being hurt?
Is this LEGAL? Is it ETHICAL? Isn’t the idea to help people out who have medical bills or lost someone or something that hurts them or their family?
Is it really something to be exploited for cash?
Anybody?
Who throws wrenches into the machinery when we’re all in it together?
Oh. That answer I already know.
Had the Trump administration and the Republican leadership in Washington fulfilled its most basic responsibility to prepare for and respond to the pandemic, the emergency declaration would have been short-lived, our social and economic damage would have been limited, and we would be moving carefully forward – like the civilized nations of which we formerly were a member. Instead, we have borne great disruption and loss for six months, but to no end, as the federal government squandered this sacrifice absolutely, responding with abject incompetence, corruption and malignancy, now declaring that the health and life of the citizenry is no longer a subject of governmental concern, and leaving it to the enclaves of reasonable, decent people to fend off the dire consequence of living with those who cry “freedom” without the slightest understanding of the term. The Republican caucus has no footing, in morality or competence, to insert itself into the Governor’s response until it has loudly repudiated the national Republican leadership and convincingly articulated that it has the capacity and willingness to act in furtherance of a cogent notion of the public welfare.
I do not think kids should go back yet:
“As Kliner told the Knesset, 1,400 Israelis were diagnosed with the disease last month. Of those, 185 caught it at events such as weddings, 128 in hospitals, 113 in workplaces, 108 in restaurants, bars, or nightclubs, and 116 in synagogues, according to Kliner, while 657—which is to say 47 percent of the total—were infected by the coronavirus in schools.”
Tim, your sentiment is great, but referring to what is happening on another continent when this article pertained to Minnesota, and the United State’s administration to ignore reality, is illogical.
Not exactly. From the quote, it looks like a sizable number of Israel’s cases came from children being in school too soon. It shows me that sending kids back to school now poses a real health risk (even if it would allow their parents to go back to work and make the Great Helmsman’s employment figures look good for the election).
Barry. Are you suggesting that the virus will behave differently here? If so, why?
No, Tim. I am saying that relying on statistics from another part of the world doesn’t have the same impact as arguing with statistics from the United States. While I have frequently commented on statistics from Singapore and South Korea, as well as Europe, I have commented on them to give an idea of what initially worked, and then what happened when the restrictions were taken off — only to see new illnesses and deaths sky-rocket.
Essentially, we don’t disagree in the pattern of infection.
The pandemic rages on without an end in sight. I can only imagine what shape our state would be in if the Republicans had wrested the Governor’s emergency powers away from him. Think Florida, Arizona, or Texas!
Even worse would be New York, New Jersey or Louisiana.
Wrong! Completely false.
Cases and deaths in New York and New Jersey are way down. The measures their Democratic governors have taken have brought things under control, while incompetent Republican governors who didn’t are seeing cases exploding. New York’s economy is going to recover long before Florida’s because they did this right.
Why is it that Republicans know absolutely nothing about economics?
Gazelka said. “Yes, there is a pandemic but, no, there is no longer an emergency.” Other comments include: “Give us our freedom back”, “Not happy about hearing this sky-is-falling-type schtick anymore.” If that is the case, why are people in the northern part of State telling people from MSP to not travel to their area of the State?
Yes there’s a pandemic, but no there’s not an emergency? Did Gazelka actually say that? Yeah… put THAT guy in charge.
I think the polarization depicted in the article speaks volumes for what we could expect if executive powers are removed. NOTHING would happen and we’d be up a Covid creek.
This anti school hysteria is the culmination of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The number of children actually at risk from not going to school is orders of magnitude higher than the number at risk of serious covid 19 complications. But as long as we get rid of the Bad Orange Man who cares how many childrens’ lives we ruin.
“The number of children actually at risk from not going to school is orders of magnitude higher than the number at risk of serious covid 19 complications.”
Again, this is scientific garbage. The number of children subject to complications is a produced by the number of infections, and the number of infections is increased when social distancing is relaxed and children return to school. Returning to school will kill more children because it will expose more children to infection. “complications” don’t just float around and land on children randomly. We’ve already seen this with return of school sports, and they’re just a fraction of the total school body. We’ve seen on college campuses.
Cory, I posted this with another article and got no response from you so I will try it again here and, again, based on your expertise in this matter I am hoping you’ll be able to answer in detail.
First, a not so insignificant percentage of students have asthma, diabetes, and other health issues that do make them more vulnerable. What plans should be put in place to guarantee that those students get the same education that other students will?
Next, since healthy teachers are not likely to get seriously ill, they may well test positive. If a teacher tests positive and fellow faculty were exposed to that teacher, do all other teachers in that group continue to come to work? How long (as a general guideline) should they be quarantined?
If those teachers cannot come to work because they must be quarantined, who will then teach in the interim? Will there be enough long-term and short-call substitutes available to handle the situation? Will those subs have enough knowledge of the curriculum to fill in for what might be weeks?
Lastly, in the past you’ve focused on “healthy” teachers. But, about 30% of teachers are over the age 50 and likely have some of the issues that come with getting older. What should happen to those teachers?
Thank you!
It’s not the children who are at risk so much as the teachers and other adult employees of the school, many of whom are over 50.
Children, especially in elementary school, are notorious germ carriers and not much into hygiene. My mother, a kindergarten teacher, had stories about some of the gross things her students did.
Children also like to move around and are not into social distancing. Will the youngest ones wear masks, or will they play with them?
Even on the high school level, will students refrain from what are officially termed “public displays of affection”?
With all the precautions that would be needed for schools to open safely (cutting class sizes, frequent cleaning, installing ventilation systems), it may be cheaper and safer to give each student an internet connection, a tablet, and a set of textbooks and workbooks.
Y’all are way to pessimistic about whether or not the GOP would cooperate with the guv. If they get tax cuts for the wealthy, I’m sure they’d go along.
Just look at the Don Trump administration’s opener for the next Covid aid package. They have the gall to be asking for a capital gains tax holiday. I guess the 1% is really getting hurt badly by this downturn.
Well Frank, you know since Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter, we can drive the government into as big a financial hole as want, cutting revenue while printing billions to pay for stimulus and COVID spending and expecting surpluses, or at least balanced budgets to appear- isn’t magical thinking, it’s just common sense. Amiright?
A Pew Research study indicated that most Republicans have two years or less education after high school. What this tells me is that an abundance of Republicans have never learned to think critically or communicate in a highly refined and knowledgeable manner.
The other thing it tells us that the Democrats have either not done much to help those voters, or if they have done anything they have not communicated it well.
It’s been a long time now since the national Democrats took of the Red Wing work boots in favor those Gucci loafers that the Wall Street crowd favors. The only labor law reform proposed by a Dem POTUS candidate in my life time was in 2008 when Obama said he favored card check authorization, an extremely mild reform at that. Once in office, that was quickly forgotten, as was the promise to “find a comfortable pair of shoes” to slip into so he could walk a picket line. When Scott Walker was slitting the throat of labor, Obama was no where to be seen.
When you raise most of your money from Wall Street, the corporate suite, & the banksters, you just aren’t going to do much for Joe Six-pack.
We have seen how the GOP playbook for minimizing/trivializing the pandemic, and for opening up the economy (clearly too quickly, “bars”, really?) too quickly has worked out. Not something we should repeat here.
Gov. Walz, from day one, has had a steady hand on the tiller, a calm presence, an extremely impressive public health team, and has led us–so far–to a reasonably good position.
I used to vote Republican when a candidate made good, fact-based arguments and had a better plan than the other candidate(s). Those days are gone… sadly. Between this pandemic and the next, climate change, and China and Russia, our economy, jobs for young people and for the disadvantaged… against all these interacting problems we need the best ideas from everyone. We lose a lot when one party lives in fantasy land propagating conspiracy theories and can’t sit still for 5 minutes of science (indeed, casts as the enemy those who actually did their homework and have something useful to say).
I can’t figure out if “God” designed this pandemic to lay waste to an economy that is destroying the capacity of the earth to sustain us, or if “God” is just opening the door for the wealthiest Americans to take even greater control of the global economy that is destroying the capacity of the earth to sustain us?
In either case, or rather in both cases, it seems “God” has some very unwittingly willing agents in both the Republican and Democratic parties.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/us-corporations-a-driving-force-behind-unprecedented-wave-of-global-land-privatization-report.html
https://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2020/04/fact-sheet-private-equity-vultures-eye-real-estate-during-coronavirus-crisis/
Regarding private equity, there are few practices within the economy that cleave closer to the definition of outright looting (with no discernible social benefit) than private equity. One could justify radical tax hikes on the wealthy on the basis of this industry alone.
Indeed, Eric.
In the aftermath of 2008, Private Equity also made themselves Too Big To Fail, by convincing many a pension fund to let private equity take over a significant portion of the fund, and taking over many a Health Care corporation – so in the event of a crisis such as this pandemic, any and all bailouts will be justified.
The media never fails to mention in the context of the 2 trillion dollar CARES Act, the 4Trillion of money made from nothing promised by the Fed for TBTF corporations, banks and private equity.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/how-private-equity-is-winning-the-coronavirus-crisis
Looking Gazelka, Daudt, and comments here it’s really interesting to see these guys crash upon the rocks of an honest god crises that requires an intelligent and educated response. After decades of promoting ignorance, anti-intellectualism, and practicing stupid… they just can’t get their heads around this pandemic. They just keep playing debate games and trying to politicize it, but that just exposes their stupidity more and more.
Listen: What’s the point in trying to game the numbers somehow, and minimize the scale of the illness and infection? Sure, you can cook up numbers to justify opening the economy… but you’re going to trigger a surge you can’t hide, and you’re just going to have to shut down again. Look at Florida and Texas. It’s like complaining about all the testing, well the infection rates are out there whether you test or not, you can’t reduce the infection by cutting back on the testing… that’s just plain stupid. And now they want to conceal hospitalization numbers? Whether you release that data or not, the hospitals will fill up and people find out about it. Whatever.
My cousin lives in Florida and has Facebook Friends in Florida. He is a Minnesotan by borth, however, and sees the miportance of wearing masks to protect others.
One of his FB friends got on him for simply requesting that others use face masks. This was a woman who told him to stop telling people what to do, and that she wouldn’t wear a mask. She appears to be in her thirties or forties. He is in his forties or early fifties.
The message is to at least care for others. Wearing a mask may or may not protect someone from getting the virus, but it will protect people from getting it from the wearer.
What continues to be missed is how the legislature should be engaged in the process. 7 months into the pandemic; and all we have to work (from the experts) with is social distancing and wear masks.
If there is a lack of leadership; which both parties can be argued are contributing to the problem; then the Governor as the Chief Executive has to do “something”.
The legislature’s job is to create laws. If the GOP wants to remove powers from the executive branch, or if the DFL wants to extend the executive branches unilateral decision making power; then introduce a law to address this.
We now have a viable medical solution for future cases (vaccine is also generating anti-bodies). But for current and active cases; we are still working with the same direction we had on March 16th (when the lock down’s started); that are pretty close to the directions given during the flu season. Should we expect more?
What can be immediately dismissed are the contributors that believe themselves as being the smartest guy in the room. Making tremendous leaps in their own mind and blame someone viewing habits (Fox or CNN/MSNBC) as some sign of intelligence and use to derogate that citizens viewpoint. It is shameful behavior. What the real discussion could be is if the news media is actually executing its duty.
“Should we expect more”? Like what? I understand the desire for quick, simple solutions, but that’s only an option when they exist. Just because encouraging signs on treatments and vaccines are breathlessly reported by a corporate media desperate for any shred of positivity doesn’t mean that any of it is a certainty.
Just a couple things Brian,
The legislator has two houses, the Senate and the House. Republican’s control the Senate and they’ve taking themselves out of any participatory role, they’d rather file lawsuits and make false claims about COVID 19 and the pandemic in general. Republican haven’t really “worked” with anyone since Pawlenty got elected way back.
Any legislation that would limit Walz’s emergency powers would have to pass both houses, presumably with veto proof majorities. Given the fact that Republican legislation would likely be premised on bizarre assumptions regarding Walz’s work habits as well as science and COVID it’s unlikely they’d even get anything pas the House. This is why they’re trying to file a lawsuit instead.
As for the pandemic: Yes, six months later we still don’t have any dramatically better treatments, or vaccines. We still don’t have an organized national response. Our testing supplies are once again running short and result are once again falling behind. The best interventions we have are distancing, masking, and isolation, this is what the scientists are telling us, this is the recommendation. Frankly, even if the legislators were working with the Governor somehow, there’s not a lot more we could do because Walz has already done it or is doing it.
Meanwhile our Republican’s want to be more like Florida, Arizona, and Texas- who have turned themselves into giant super-spreader events.
There is a law duly passed by the legislature. That law requires what this article is about. Governor declares emergency powers and the legislature then votes on it. Any change in the existing law will have to wait until the regular session.
There is nothing shameful about pointing out that Fox News presents a lot of anti-scientific buffoonery, as does the president and a lot of Republicans.
Masks and social distancing work. Places where these things are reliably done have seen their numbers drop significantly.
This shouldn’t be about politics at all. Its just smart and stupid.
At this point MN has 5k active cases with 1% being critical. The awful part of this current flu is the toll on the elderly. We also can not make up stats that the <20 crowd mortality rate is not 99.9%.
Again…blaming a political party seems mute as the Governor has unilateral power. If I understand the argument; that power was not meant to be forever, but the law also is not clear on who ends the process.
Let's not pretend that if Pawlenty was in charge, the ones raising the lawsuit would be DFL…Same as POTUS; GOP hated Obama's Executive Orders while DNC supported him,,,now the GOP supports the executive order and DNC is opposed. All depends on if your person is in office.
Every current poll shows nearly a 50/50 split, so understand that your view point (or my viewpoint) is not shared with half the country. Being smug that your side knows more than the other side, is a sign of the problem not the solution. Any negative argument on the GOP can easily be matched with a similar argument about the DFL..it is mutual destruction and silly.
Anyone who understands the law should understand that the federal government power does not super cede the states in a lot of these areas. The Feds have offered every state supplies and access to funds to get supplies. Remember the rush for ventilators, we now have more than we need.
If testing supplies are running low; then look to your neighbors; they are the ones who work (or choose not work) in the factories who make them.
But we also have to admit to ourselves; historically; relying on government to solve the flu has never worked…is a fool's errand. They never have and never will.
But..if we are rely on scientists to guide us and help determine how our economy (20mm unemployed), education (school closed), health (elderly are dying) and legal system will work; I think we need to make sure we are getting some more details than wash your hands and wear a mask.
First of all its not a flu. I understand people like to compare it to the flu, but it is actually a completely different virus. So right off the bat you have no idea what you are talking about.
The idea that the positions would be reversed if Minneaota had a Republican governor is absolute nonsense. There are Republican governors who have wisely imposed Covid restrictions, and the Democrats in those states have no opposed them. The reason for this is that the Democratic position (and that of some Republicans) is based on science and public health. The idea that it is based on who is in charge is completely absurd.
And being smug has nothing to do with anything. One political party is guided by the science, and the other is largely guided by ignorance. This shouldn’t be political. This is smart vs. stupid. But sadly, the Republican party has largely chosen the side of stupid.
And government can stop this virus (which, again, is not a flu virus). Many countries have eliminated or are close to eliminating it. But cases are exploding in the US to the point where other countries won’t allow us to travel there.
And while the Federal government’s powers are limited, it can still make a huge difference and it has failed miserable. Trump is now trying to limit testing and to keep statistics away from the CDC. That is the complete opposite approach of countries that are beating this.
But that is the problem with electing a game show host as president. Electing a trust fund kid who has squandered his inheritance on one business failure after another. A man who knows nothing about business. Nothing about economics. And who is doing all he can to ensure economic harm long after most countries have recovered.
The only way to get through this is for everyone to wear masks. To social distance. You won’t help the economy by ignoring those things and opening everything up. The opposite is true. The surgeon general has said we can get ahead of this thing by everyone doing those things for a month or two. But Republicans seem determined to keep us in recession for years.
Very well said. My only quibble is that Trump is not “trying to keep statistics away from the CDC”, he has actually done so, and is now suppressing public data that states and governors need to combat the pandemic.
Some might call this dictatorial and authoritarian. But not our MN Repubs and Freedom Fighters, apparently. Here, our (fully within the law) governor is Tyrant Tim!
And to you last point, the simple things the scientists are telling you to do are all you need. It really isn’t that hard. But when you have Fox News broadcasting false and harmful information to millions of people, those simple measures are undermined.
The scientists are trying to save jobs. The scientists are trying to get kids back in school. But Republicans seemed determined to kill the economy but undermining the simple things we need to do to get there.
I think Paul U. nailed it way up the comment section, seems our republican friends have no problem with Trumps, “dictatorship” but put the shoe on the other foot! Can we move on the hypocracy is a “clear and present danger”
Note also the kind of use of emergency powers a Repub governor pulls: PROHIBITING municipalities and all levels of government from requiring masks, as Georgia’s Trumpite governor Kemp just did.
This is the sort of “authoritarianism in defense of liberty!” that conservatives crave; to them, American “liberty” is a suicide pact. That Kemp is a democratically-illegitimate governor who rigged his own election only emphasizes the dark comedy.
But best of luck, (actually oppressed) Georgians! And we’d have exactly the same thing happening in MN, if we had a Repub governor, such as Gull Lake Gazelka…
Given the assertion on the part of MN’s GOP members of the Legislature regarding the possible extension of Gov Walz’s emergency powers, could MinnPost figure out how many states still have them in place as of Sept? That would be helpful information on which all Minnesotans could determine whether the governor is seizing undue power.