Gov. Tim Walz strongly indicated during the Monday opening of a new saliva testing center in Minneapolis that he will soon announce restrictions on bars and restaurants as a way of stemming an explosion of COVID-19 infections in Minnesota.
Walz stood with Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm to announce another expansion in testing, this time at the Minneapolis Convention Center, but both officials further lamented an increase in both infection numbers and positivity rates. The state saw 10,000 new infections over the weekend and passed a 10 percent positivity rate.
Walz said health department information is seeing three infection sources: social events such as weddings and funerals, large family gatherings and bars and restaurants. The latter dovetails into another concern of health officials — the large number of 18-to-35 years olds who may be infected but asymptomatic. Those people can be efficient spreaders.
Last Monday, Malcolm said the state has launched 172 investigations at 161 bars and restaurants, to which officials have linked 3,185 primary cases. That does not include “subsequent waves of transmission,” Malcolm said. Of those 161 businesses, 74 had at least seven cases, accounting for a total of 2,220 primary cases. MDH also released a list [PDF] Monday of the bars and restaurants that have been investigated for patron transmission of the virus.
The governor said he would release more data Tuesday on the most common infection paths. “It is a mathematical certainty that if we don’t make some of these changes quickly, we’ll be reporting 10,000 cases and additional people dead and hospitals that are starting to become full,” Walz said. (Update: the governor has scheduled a 2 p.m. Tuesday speech to announce “next steps in the state’s response to COVID-19.”)
A total shutdown is a blunt instrument with “incredible ramifications,” he said. While he thinks it was the right tool in the spring, it no longer would be as science knows more about how the disease spreads and how it doesn’t.
Instead, the governor said, he would be more surgical in the response and walked very close to saying something like a curfew, rather than closures, could be announced later this week. “Many of you can extrapolate and start thinking about this: Where are the 18- to 35-year-olds congregating together? Where are they and what are some of the incidences of the social spread happening?” Walz said.
“It makes more sense to target some of those more surgically and much more aggressively than a statewide stay-at-home order,” he said.
Malcolm said MDH will have data and will update it tomorrow. “There are definitely — if you look at all the sources of spread — that is a very large category of cases,” she said of bars and restaurants. “We are looking at the data, are there patterns, are there things we can do that are more targeted.”
Said Walz: “This is a very important question. We are not scapegoating the hospitality industry.”
But he said it is the nature of the virus to spread in those settings. “The infection rates increase at a set time in the evening,” he said “When you see tomorrow, we’re going to try to be more surgical and provide data that we think slows it down. It’s not secretive as to what we’re trying to do. We’ll be talking to our partners; we’re gathering the data.”
He said he was considering changes last week but the election made the timing “chaotic,” though he said he agonized over waiting. “Every day we wait on things that we believe can mitigate the risk, is another day that someone got infected and potentially ends up in the hospital,” he said.
He said the expanded testing, which will also include a new site at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and at 11 National Guard run sites across the state, will help fight the pandemic and he encouraged people to get tested.
Doing so, he said, “might prevent your grandparents from getting this thing over Thanksgiving; doing so might keep our school open, might let a restaurant hanging on by a thread.”
Also this week, Walz is expected to sign an executive order extending the peacetime state of emergency and convening a special session of the Legislature to decide whether to keep it in place or rescind it. In the past sessions, the GOP-controlled Senate has voted to rescind while the DFL-controlled House has not. That dynamic could have been changed by the election results, however, which saw Republicans gain seats in the House and retain control of the Senate.
“We’re headed into a special session, I still fear they might say no,” Walz said after the convention center announcement. “The alternative is fully open — no restrictions, and I’ve got to cut that thing off.”
Update: Hospitality Minnesota President & CEO Liz Rammer issued a comment on the report of restrictions: “The state has repeatedly told us they do not intend to shut down restaurants and bars, and we have not been told any different today. We would hope that any targeted restrictions being contemplated would take into account that restaurants and bars are affiliated with only 2 percent of the cases, and not unfairly single out these businesses. Closing down these businesses would only serve to push more people to home gatherings where the data shows increased case spread.”
November 9,2020
Medical teams and administrators are reacting to the spike in local infections around MN, bringing back some staff early who were on a COVID-19 requisite leave and telling us their ICU beds are being filled amidst the stress of new infections– Begging us to limit gatherings and wear masks.
Republicans? Will you help out this time?
Good Lord, we’re still kicking this can down the road. Why?
No matter how careful I am with social distancing, washing hands and wearing a mask in public, we are not getting a handle on this COVID thing. My family and I are doing our patriotic duty. We are doing our civic duty. Through our own sacrifice and self imposed restrictions, we are fighting the good fight with all our might but we are losing. No matter how hard we try, COVID spirals out of control. Why is that?
It’s because a lot of my neighbors are NOT doing their civic duty. A lot of my fellow Minnesotans are equating stepping up and bearing with an annoyance as a challenge to their personal freedom. Really? How free are you when more and more and more restrictions are placed on ALL of us because some people decide to ignore best practices?
The only thing that puzzles me is why the governor has not taken a more heavy handed approach and started to deal with these irresponsible brats like the 2-year-olds they are.
And where are the public figures on the other side of the aisle, the ones who have a platform to instruct the public to make good decisions? The Republicans would do well to take some courses in leadership.
Where in the state do you live? In my neighborhood (Cathedral Hill St Paul) I would say mask compliance is 98%.
Maybe the virus is being controlled in your neighborhood because people are complying. Look beyond your neighborhood. Look at the rising rates. Clearly people are not obeying the recommendations. And wearing masks is not the only thing we need to be doing and you are not going to see those violations just walking around. People are gathering when they shouldn’t be and it is only going to get worse with the holidays approaching. Mr. Kendrick is right to rant about irresponsibility.
I live just across the river in Minneapolis in the Longfellow neighborhood where compliance is similar to yours – near 100%. But many of my neighbors who live in the farther flung regions on Minnesota, farther flung than the Twin Cities, are less inclined to follow the science. That’s where my ire comes in. I am baffled that we cannot all get on the same page with this. How about the power of WE for a change, instead of the power of ME? This is what I ask my fellow Minnesotans.
I also would like Gov. Walz to be stricter, but given the laissez-faire attitude in Wisconsin, Iowa and both Dakotas, my guess is that he can also see it would be a waste of time. We’d get the downside of the shutdown- including all the political bleating- without reaping any of the gains.
The response needs to be coordinated and national, which clearly isn’t going to happen until January at best.
I solidly support our governor’s position on combating covid-19. It makes no sense to continue attitudes toward the virus as political. It is purely a matter of life and death. Anyone with any business sense must realize that shutting down completely for the shortest possible time, is the best answer. The cost to business and the rest of our society would be far less than this dribble drabble approach which only extends the hurt. If our national government had any concerns about the people of the nation, they would freeze the nation for the shortest possible time, pass legislation to reimburse people and agencies and then get on with life. This half-assed approach is just killing more of us.
It is time to lock things down again. I would say complete lockdown until we are under 600 cases per day. The exceptions are essential work, essential shopping like groceries and pharmacy, medical care, and 1 hour per day outside for exercise. If Governor Walz won’t take a stand then we are going to have to do personal stay at home orders so that we can finally beat this thing.
That’s what they did in the state of Victoria, Australia, for 110 days when they had an outbreak in Melbourne.
According to a friend who lives there, there were strict rules on what could remain open, bans on inter-household gatherings, and a requirement to wear a mask, even outdoors. No one could travel more than 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) from their home, and there were hefty fines for violating the rules.
Furthermore, other states barred residents of Victoria from entering.
I suppose our interstate commerce clause would prevent closing the borders of states and counties, and so the number of cases continues to rise, tripling in Hennepin and Ramsey counties over the past week and a half. Meanwhile, in “freedom-loving” rural Minnesota, there are counties with three and four times the infection rate in the Twin Cities, and the surrounding states are even worse off.
As of Wednesday, I shall have been following all the rules for eight months, and a bunch of self-centered, purposely ignorant adult brats are making it impossible to resume our normal lives.
I agree, but it may be much too late to control the pandemic since little or nothing was done here in the early months. I was in SE Asia (mainlyThailand) for the first six months of the year before returning in early June. Strict night curfews, regional airports closed, all stores taking temperatures, names, times, phone numbers for contact tracing, police checks in the provinces, bars and restaurants closed, helped control the spread of the disease. In the six months I have been back only two people have died from covid and life has returned to almost normal with children learning in their everyday school settings since July. Of course, Asians are not averse to using masks and virtually everybody complied with the mask mandates.
When going through the airports in Bangkok and Incheon in June, they were almost like ghost towns with few shops open because of the large number of flights canceled. Masks and temperature checks were mandated. When coming into the USA (SEATAC), there was a complete difference with the airport crowded and approximately 20-25% on the people not wearing masks. My initial reaction was that it would get much worse here and, unfortunately, that is what has occurred.
Chancellor Merkel, both scientist and world democratic leader, prepared Germany for a 4 week lockdown in the face of a surging virus.
Now even Boris Johnson is following suit in the UK. Tim Walz could be next, be he doesn’t like the renegade tantrums and legal threats he gets from the Rs. I don’t know how to get through to them either.
REALITY SAYS: We need FOUR WEEKS OF STRICT closing, to reverse this trend.
Having said that, and trying to change my own strident style in the spirit of killing off the hatred and tribalism, I will acknowledge the COVID-19 fatigue is a real thing. Everyone is getting tired of “keeping it together” and feeling discouraged.
After going through strict quarantine since March, my 99-year old mom is getting on her own nerves and mine. All I can say to her is “hang on a little longer so we don’t have to start over.” If she can do it so can all MN folks.
If the Pfizer vaccine is effective we might be able to see a real “opening-up” in mid-January, after medical staff and the nursing homes have had a chance to defend themselves.
The problem, Kyle, as I spelled out above, is that we can only control what we do. If you and your family do the whole social distancing stay at home business to a T and a bunch of yahoos don’t do it, where does that leave us as a state? This is NOT political. This is citizenship.
I have to say this again, because many of the people posting are not realizing the obvious. 2% of positive cases have been traced to restaurants and bars. Jan Malcolm continues to say the new cases are a result of people getting together with family and friends. NOT AT BARS AND RESTAURANTS. So please, stop pretending thats where this is coming from. Governor, have you looked at downtown and uptown lately? It’s a ghost town, and it is not coming back any time soon. You are just backing up what everyone knows, you’ve never been a Governor for the business community. Stop blaming the Republicans. BTW, I’m a registered Democrat. Moving to Independent after the way you’ve handled this. And one last thing. Why are MN numbers exploding when Florida’s numbers are not?
Quite possibly because it’s a lot warmer in Florida and people can socialize outside.
The Minnesota Department of Health has recorded 117 bars and restaurants tied to coronavirus outbreaks.
[quote]
“An additional 58 bars and restaurants have been added to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) list of establishments linked to COVID-19 outbreaks since Oct. 14, which is when we last published the figures.
As of Nov. 5, MDH has conducted 209 investigations into a total of 194 establishments (some have been investigated more than once) for suspected coronavirus transmission (3,373 unique COVID-19-positive cases have reported visiting these 194 establishments).”
[end quote]
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/58-bars-and-restaurants-added-to-list-of-those-linked-to-covid-19-outbreaks
Ms. Larey, do you see from this why we can’t just let these places keep spreading the disease?
Glad to see that the Governor is alive after a few weeks of inaction. Now that the election is over he can start shutting down the State. By all means close things down, and when they open back up, the virus will return just as it has everywhere else that did hard lockdowns. Lives are important, but killing off the businesses that are just hanging on will have it’s own fatal consequences.
You’re entitled to your opinion about the governor but if you want our political leaders to step up, include some advice for the MN Senate leaders too, and their lack of cooperation with the governor.
Just wanted to note that I predicted on these pages that the Governor wouldn’t do anything regarding COVID 19 until after the election, and two days after President-Elect Biden is announced, instant action. I’m not sure how the GOP Senators really matter as only the Governor is making these decisions which is his right using his Emergency Powers. The House and Senate just watch as these decisions are made.
Two things:
First, to Betsy Larey: No one is scapegoating restaurants, the data prove that social gatherings like those in restaurants and bars cause COVID 19 outbreaks. Restaurants and bars are NOT entitled to have outbreaks, no matter how many or how few outbreaks they may have. Responsible policy seeks to reduce transmission, not ignore it. Yes, people HAVE been advised to forego their big Thanksgiving family gatherings, and YES, large weddings, parties, and other forms of social gatherings have been discouraged and limited. And YES many health care professionals and others who work with COVID do NOT go home, they stay in hotels, or if they go home they’ve isolated from the rest of the family for months.
The hospitality industry in MN keeps floating a 2% figure, i.e. the total number of cases acquired at bars and restaurants is “only” 2% so Walz is picking on them despite their small contribution to COVID outbreaks. First, let’s recognize that as of Nov 9, 2% of MN cases is around 3,700 people, some of which may have died. If you want to see MORE people get infected, sick, or die at restaurants I’ll let you make your case. Second, that 2% figure is garbage manufactured by amateurs not epidemiologists. That figure does NOT come from MDH. The fact is that like all other types of outbreaks at restaurants and bars, the numbers of cases and outbreaks actually identified is typically a fraction of the actual cases and outbreaks. Testing is not mandatory or universal, and cooperation with contact tracing specially in rural MN is not reliable.
Finally, containment isn’t about identifying specific scenarios. We know where and how COVID spreads, so the question is where do we find those high risk circumstances, we don’t have to PROVE that a wedding, or a restaurant, or a funeral are high risk scenarios, we KNOW that any social gathering where people are in a confined space, close together, for more than 15 minutes, is a high risk environment. We even seen outbreaks at outdoor weddings.
My second point goes to Mr. Owens and his comment that a vaccine might get us “opening” by mid January. Actually given the nature of this vaccine, and remaining testing and logistics, we won’t likely see that vaccine distributed in a substantive way until late spring or mid summer of the next year. Let’s not overestimate the effect of preliminary vaccine trials.
Yes, I was wrong to project “January”. The vaccine won’t change things completely until the vaccine itself is widespread in the community. That in itself is a process in need of incredible logistics and yes, more cooperation from those who refuse to even get the vaccine.
But I want to re-iterate my support of an enforced 4 week period NOW, before the virus engulfs our whole medical system. Angela Merkel’s plan for Germany will show results, and maybe help people see that we can stop the “rocket-speed” spread by isolating ourselves for 4 weeks–
Mike Osterholm of the UofM’s Center for Infectious Disease and Policy has a new podcast I wish everyone would hear (or read the transcript).
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/episode-30
Gov. Walz can’t save the food and beverage and entertainment industry. Only cooperative and successful stopping of this epidemic will do that. If one must get political about masks and closings, please use your influence to get the US Senate to pass some more help for those who are unemployed through no fault of themselves. Blaming Walz in the face of knowable FACTS simply weakens our collective response. Walz isn’t the problem, the VIRUS is.
It hurts to see China being hated and isolated and the US pulling out of the WHO when the best results have been in the managed societies of the east.