Walz is in ‘hold pattern’ over restrictions as Minnesota heads to third COVID-19 boom
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he has no plans to impose new restrictions as the state wants a third surge of COVID-19 infections.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he has no plans to impose new restrictions as the state wants a third surge of COVID-19 infections.
Minnesota health officials reported 2,659 new cases Friday, the most in a single day since Jan. 4. Hospitalizations have more than doubled in the past month, and Walz said a small number of hospital beds are being used for the first time since January. .
At the same time, nearly 30 percent of Minnesota adults are now fully vaccinated against the virus. The governor noted that no one had been vaccinated when he last closed at the end of 2020.
“At this point, we’re in an attitude pattern,” Walz said this week when asked about his plans.
The mitigation strategy has changed over the past few months as the public has grown tired of the pandemic. In Michigan, with the worst outbreak in the country, Government Gretchen Whitmer on Friday called on high schools, youth sports and restaurants to stop all personal activities for two weeks. But unlike in the past, she did not instruct it.
Whitmer is asking the government of President Joe Biden to increase the allocation of the vaccine for her state, a request that Biden has so far turned down.
Walz and other governors are talking about the Biden government bringing up the vaccines in the hotspot states, Walz told National Public Radio this week. The governor’s spokesman confirmed the talks with FOX 9.
In Minnesota, more than 1.9 million people have now received at least one vaccine dose. Nearly 1.3 million have been fully vaccinated, which is ninth in the country per adult.
Minnesota counties with low vaccination rates are now seeing higher cases, a FOX 9 analysis of state data shows.
In Sherburne and Benton counties, only 27 percent of adults are vaccinated. In contrast, Cook County and Olmstead County have the highest vaccination rates in the state, at 71 percent and 61 percent, respectively.
Health officials said they were redistributing some doses to areas with increasing infection rates.
They also acknowledged that demand has declined in some communities, while remaining highest in the Twin Cities metro.
“I think we’re still a long way from the point where supply really exceeds demand,” Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters on Thursday.