The Minnesota Department of Health reports nine coronavirus-related deaths Sunday, the lowest daily count of deaths in the last month. The total is 731.
An increase of 700 lab-confirmed cases brings the state’s total to nearly 16,400.
As the state officially transitions into post-stay-at-home-order Minnesota, health officials say this is the time to lean into safety guidance like physical distancing and wearing masks.
Many retailers have opened their doors to 50 percent capacity with thoughtful plans to screen workers and keep customers six feet apart. Folks might be carefully planning a small gathering with ways to enter and exit without crowding, wearing masks and physical distancing.
Even with precautions in the gradual reopening, MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm says people shouldn’t become lax.
“As we move into these later stages where we believe that risk can be managed,” she said, “it’s very important for people to remember that lower risk does not equal no risk.”
Malcolm further clarified the executive order regarding gatherings.
“Our guidance continues to be to minimize gatherings of groups any larger than 10 outside of your immediate household,” she said. “If you have a large family, a large household of eight people, that doesn’t mean your household of eight can gather with 10 more. We’re really talking about group sizes of 10 including those in your immediate household.”
MDH is recommending people wear masks even outside when physically-distanced from other people. Malcolm says she hopes it’s a behavior that catches in because we’ll be under these conditions for a considerable amount of time...
“That is a concern if people don’t see the need for it or for some reason don’t think it applies to them, or think, as Kris (Ehresmann, Minnesota Infectious Disease Director) said, ‘As long as I’m six feet apart the rest isn’t important.’ Some of that, we need to do a better job of educating and I think as more data comes out, hopefully people will find that persuasive, it isn’t just some nerdy public health advice, it comes from actual evidence that there is risk of transmission where we didn’t previously appreciate it.”
Gov. Tim Walz says they will turn the dial back if there’s a spike in cases. Malcolm estimates it will take at least three weeks to measure a difference between the up to 14-day incubation period and the time it takes to get symptoms and a test.
The main takeaway from MDH in this new stage, is to not abandon safety measures including quarantining when you feel sick.
