Minnesota, Wisconsin and a number of other midwestern states have formed a coalition to coordinate decisions on when to re-open the region’s economy, but Minnesota’s southern and western neighbors are *not* in that group. State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says Governor Tim Walz has indicated he’ll remain in frequent contact with the governors of the Dakotas and Iowa. Malcolm says, “The more we can have cohesive action, the better, but I fully understand that different regions are gonna be in different stages of the pandemic.”
The coalition of midwestern states says it will closely examine at least four factors when determining the best time to re-open the regional economy, those being: sustained control of new infections and hospitalizations… enhanced testing ability… sufficient health care capacity… and best practices for social distancing in the workplace.