Minnesota News Network

Minnesota has hit a grim new record this day after Thanksgiving — 101 new deaths from COVID — topping the previous daily high by 29 fatalities. State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm calls it a sad development but not a surprising one. Officials have been sounding the alarm for weeks about dramatic increases in the number of COVID cases, prompting Governor Tim Walz to order a four-week closure of bars, restaurants and fitness facilities which is now entering its second weekend.

Health Commissioner Malcolm says “we must redouble our efforts to protect each other – especially those who are at higher risk of developing severe illness. Every public activity now is more risky than it was even a few weeks ago, so the best way to slow this spread is for people to stay home and away from gatherings with those outside of our immediate household.” And if you must go out, wear a mask over your mouth and nose, and stay at least six feet from others.

Of the 101 new deaths, 64 were residents of long-term care facilities, one was from a group home, and one jail or prison inmate died.

Sanford Health C-E-O Kelby Krabbenhoft is out, just days after sending an e-mail to the health system’s 48-thousand employees that he didn’t plan to wear a mask at work after recovering from COVID, because he believed he had immunity for at least several months. Governor Tim Walz last Friday was critical of Krabbenhoft’s stance, saying it’s not supported by solid data: Walz says Krabbenhoft is “someone whose systems are being strained right now… who is hearing from his clinical staff. I don’t understand myself why you wouldn’t do it to try and show leadership [which] requires modeling behaviors that we want to see.”

Krabbenhoft had been Sanford’s president and C-E-O since 1996. Bill Gassen has been appointed to that position.

The State Canvassing Board Tuesday afternoon certified results of the presidential election, even as a citizens group and several Republican state lawmakers filed a challenge with the Minnesota Supreme Court. The MN Election Integrity Team alleges Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s “haphazard rule changes resulted in absentee votes being treated differently from county to county.” Simon is not commenting on pending litigation, except to say, “There was a very efficient, a very secure and streamlined process that was uniform throughout the state, that courts at multiple levels blessed along the way, and I’m quite confident that the results will withstand any scrutiny.”

Unless the high court intervenes, the next and final step is December 14th, when presidential electors vote for Joe Biden.

Around 400-million dollars in state aid to COVID-closed bars and restaurants — the number lawmakers seem to be closing in on, as Governor Tim Walz pushes for a deal so he can call a special session. Walz says he wants help for about 14-thousand businesses, “every single one of them…. So I think you can extrapolate this will be a fairly significant package. It will fall within Minnesota’s ability to pay for it.”

Democrats also want to extend state unemployment benefits for bar and restaurant workers. Minneapolis Representative Mohamud Noor says, “We have to be out there to support those who are struggling the most and to ensure that we support each other during this difficult moment.” But Republicans want the *federal* government to release 137 billion dollars in the Paycheck Protection Program and
Maple Grove Representative Kristin Robbins says, “We also would support efforts to make the federal changes necessary to provide additional unemployment.”

State Republican Party leaders allege “extreme abnormalities and statistical variations” from historic voter trends, as the state canvassing board prepares to certify Joe Biden tomorrow (Tues) as winner of the presidential election in Minnesota. Biden’s margin was decisive and state G-O-P Chair Jennifer Carnahan acknowledges, “I think at this point it doesn’t look like obviously there’d be a recount in Minnesota.”

So what’s the benefit for Republicans to question the results, when it’s clear that Biden won Minnesota? Hamline University Professor David Schultz says perhaps Republicans’ objections were timed “just as the State of Minnesota is getting ready to certify the elections, so that the base becomes more skeptical about the election returns.” Schultz says another likely factor: Republicans are being loyal soldiers by supporting the president’s claims.

State officials are expecting another jump in unemployment insurance claims as effects of the four-week bar and restaurant closings begin spreading through Minnesota’s economy. Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove says there is money available in Minnesota’s unemployment insurance system. “It is of course borrowing from the federal government at this point, like almost every state in the nation, but we are ready to take on any influx of applications we get as a result of this four-week pause.”

But Grove says additional federal benefits that were available at the beginning of the pandemic — the 600-dollar top-off, the 13-week extension, and unemployment insurance for independent contractors — have either expired, or will at the end of this year. “There’s much less of a cushion for workers now than there was before, and it just highlights that need of the federal government to act,” he says.

State officials say Minnesotans should not hesitate to seek any mental health services they need due to pressure from the pandemic. Julie Hanenburg with Lighthouse Child and Family Services in Milaca says, “Our referrals and our intakes at this time have not increased in a way that would match the level of stress, and I think distress, that people are experiencing during the pandemic.” Hanenburg says among the issues could be transportation, Internet access, and persisting stigma around accessing mental health services.

Sue Abderholden with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Minnesota says one reason there haven’t been the expected number of referrals is that children are not in front of their teachers — who are trained to identify early warning-signs of mental illness. For resources available to families and individuals, visit mn.gov/covid19/gethelp.

As President Trump continues to dispute election results, state Republican leaders say in Minnesota they’re finding “extreme abnormalities and statistical variations” from historic voter trends. Minnesota GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan says the president amassed significant totals in strong Trump counties, but those gains were “drowned out by even larger gains from counties that have been shifting away from Democrats since 2008″ — areas such as the Iron Range and some suburban and exurban areas of the Twin Cities.

D-F-L Party Chairman Ken Martin responds,”We had a free and fair election, and now you have a president of the United States and an elected chairwoman of a state party undermining the will of the American people.” State G-O-P Chair Jennifer Carnahan says they’re simply calling attention to statistical deviations, “looking at data and pointing out information that we found. That’s not creating division. Creating division is calling people like me ‘dumb’, asking what planet we’re from.”

Political analysts say exceedingly strong turnout for Biden in the central metro area overwhelmed votes from Trump strongholds in other areas of Minnesota.