Democrats in the Minnesota House this afternoon turned back Republicans’ efforts to cancel Governor Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order and re-open bars and restaurants with proper social-distancing. Mazeppa Republican Steve Drazkowski argues, “In our efforts to save lives, we are killing livelihoods. In just the past few weeks, the governor has ordered businesses closed and shut people up inside their homes, [and] our economy has been smoked.”
House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler responds measures to fight COVID-19 in Minnesota are working. “We are going to be top in the nation because we are doing the right thing, not because we are quitting,” Winkler says.
Governor Tim Walz said today he understands Minnesotans are feeling the strain of a stay at home order amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I get it,” he says. “I wish we could stop this today, I wish I could say, you know what? It’s magically over, we can all go back to work, we can all go down to the restaurant or whatever, but that will kill people and it will in the long run hurt our economy at the same time.”
State health officials today announced that 79 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19 and nearly 17-hundred have tested positive for the virus.