Rising COVID-19 cases and the more transmissible delta variant is keeping Minnesota State Fair officials on high alert ahead of the fair officially opening on August 26.
So far, the fair has yet to announce any major COVID-19 guidance. State Fair General Manager Jerry Hammer said on Wednesday morning during the WCCO Radio Morning News that everything is possible when it comes to the Great Minnesota Get-Together and the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We've been talking COVID for 18 months, so the conversation has been going on constantly and everything is on the table. We're considering everything," Hammer told WCCO Radio's Adam Carter. "We still do have a little more than three weeks, so we'll see where things are."
Restrictions could include an indoor masking requirement, however, Hammer said an attendance limit likely wouldn't be in the cards.
"I'm not sure really how effective that would be," Hammer added. "We are a primarily outdoor event and outdoors is a game changer. Everything shows it's far more difficult to transmit outside."
Hammer reiterated the need for people to get a COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, as of August 1 69 percent of Minnesotans 16 years of age and older have received one vaccine dose.
65.7 percent of eligible recipients were fully vaccinated according to MDH data.
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"We wouldn't be having any discussions about any of this if more people were vaccinated. We wouldn't be going through what we are right now and we wouldn't even be talking about variants," he said. "The vaccine is so abundance and available in the United States. That's really the answer. The more people are vaccinated then there really is no virus. There's nowhere else left for it to go."