Gov. Tim Walz extends the stay at home order to May 18, but more businesses are permitted to open back up.
The 40-page executive order lays out that all forward-facing retail businesses will be able to do curbside pick-up and delivery as of Monday. Businesses should start developing their plans for contactless payment and physical distancing.
“Any retail store or business that sells, rents or maintains, or repairs goods that can reasonably be picked up outside by a customer without entering the place of a business and with limited interaction between the worker and the customer,” Department of Employment and Economic Development Steve Grove said. “This includes household goods rentals, maintenance services, repair services and pet grooming, which are all included in this order.”
Salons and barbershops can open for product sales, not hair cuts.
Officials estimate as many as 30,000 workers and between 10 and 15,000 businesses will return. Walz says to workers worried about returning that they “wouldn’t ask them to go back if it was unsafe.” He said word will spread about which businesses are “doing it right.”
“As the governor’s mentioned, all these things, this is not a full solution, but this is a step and quite frankly for retailers this is a really important step,” Bruce Nustad, President of the Minnesota Retailers’ Association said. “This is sort of like putting retail in that final game of the playoffs. This is your chance to get your game plan down really good, make sure everybody’s playing well because right around the corner is the Super Bowl. I believe the governor is very intentional when he says we’re working toward a full reopening of stores. And I know it requires a lot of patience because there’s a lot of retailers that want to see those stores open today, but this is your final game of the playoffs and you’re getting close to the Super Bowl.”
The executive order also strongly recommends Minnesotans wear masks in public places.
State Republicans have criticized the decision. Senate Majority leader Paul Gazelka tweeted that the governor is “asking the right questions and looking at the right data, but I'm disappointed he's not turning the dial further today.”
The Governor is asking the right questions and looking at the right data, but I'm disappointed he's not turning the dial further today. I think he should move further, and faster, opening businesses up again in Minnesota. #mnleg
— Paul Gazelka (@paulgazelka) April 30, 2020I think it’s a fair question to ask whether people will feel comfortable enough to visit businesses of their choosing if they are allowed to open up again. Looking at the parking lots at Target, Walmart, Menards, etc., I think I know the answer.
— Paul Gazelka (@paulgazelka) April 30, 2020“Is it pleasant to go out in a mask? Is it pleasant to wait six feet before you go into Trader Joe’s?” Walz said. “No. None of those things are. Would you rather be with your family in the backyard in a larger gathering? Absolutely. But there are some of these things we can do. We can return to a sense of some of these things that bring that well-being meter up by doing this.”
Walz says he’s not yet able to give definitive answers for a lot of important activities: June weddings, dine-in restaurants, youth sports or summer camps. He says too much can change weeks ahead. He expressed sympathy but said the message is to keep doing what the data shows Minnesotans are doing, and don’t give up.
“I’ve got the same reslestless as everybody else,” Walz said. “But we’re at mile 20. Feels like it’d be easy to sit down in this marathon. We could rest and say we were pretty proud, but we're not going to finish. This is unlike anything else. This stuff will come roaring back. You make a mistake and it did what it did in Worthington. You make a mistake and it happens what happened in New York City. That’s how quick it happens.”
Walz was referring to a one-week spike of 700 cases in Nobles County.
Walz also says he’s open to revising the ban on elective surgeries, adding that it was the industry that wanted to preserve PPE and surgical supplies.
With more than 99 percent of Minnesota’s 343 deaths being people who had underlying health conditions, Walz says the eventual goal once there is full capacity to test and trace and know the scope of the infection, to move to a scenario where the most vulnerable are isolated.
“You need to strike a balance between finding that place where you can isolate and find out who has it and yet moving the rest of the people back in.
