Gov. Walz says he understands where people are coming from when it comes to getting Minnesota back up and running while dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
"I'm right with them," he told Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News. "This is terrible. No one wants to do this. No one wants to be at home."
But the state won't go back to pre-pandemic days with the flip of the switch, which means some businesses remain shuttered, and there is a good chance schools will not reopen this spring.
"An arbitrary opening will simply not work," said Walz, adding that it's not just because the virus won't go away when the stay-at-home order expires on May 4.
Walz held a teleconference with business leaders on Monday morning.
"It's about trust," he said. "If we don't have a vaccine, and we don't have treatment, and things are still going up, you can open up all the stores, but who's going to go in and try on clothes? Who's going to go into a packed bar and sit next to someone? No one has the trust to go back."
For that matter, it's not known if anyone wants to back to school, to classrooms full of students, to between-class rushes through jammed hallways, to sporting events attended by people of all ages.
"You don't set unreasonable expectations with people," said Walz. "That breaks my heart, thinking of all the kids out there. I think the chances (of schools reopening) are pretty slim. It's going to be difficult, but we have not ruled it out."
Related: Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan launch statewide mask drive
What's just as disappointing to the governor that his decisions are made despite what appears to be nearly full cooperation from Minnesotans.
"Minnesotans have done everything right, been able to flatten this thing and keep our rates low, but it's not like a storm that passes over and we hunker down."
Walz said it appears Minnesota is close to offering widespread front-end and antibody testing thanks to research being done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
