Dear Neighbor,
Saturday, March 13th, marks a full year since Gov. Walz imposed a peacetime state of emergency. Over the past 12 months he has issued nearly 120 executive orders. Those orders have dictated what individuals, schools, medical facilities and businesses may or may not do.
Today, as we look across the United States, Minnesota ranks in the top 10 of most restrictive states, along with New York and California. In contrast, 3 of the 4 bordering states, South Dakota, North Dakota & Iowa are in the top 10 of least restrictive states. Wisconsin is in the middle of the pack.
On a macro level, Minnesota’s rate of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, emergency room admissions and deaths are pretty much a mirror image of that found in our neighboring states here in Midwest. That suggests that regardless of whether an extreme shut-down or a more flexible approach was dictated, we are generally in about the same place with respect to those COVID-19 related metrics today.
We continue to make excellent progress on vaccinations and are only being limited by the amount of vaccine produced each week. We are seeing a steady reduction in hospitalizations, emergency room usage, and the case positivity rates are trending down. In recognition of that, effective March 15th, the governor elected to loosen up some of the extreme restrictions that have been in place for a year.
That is welcome news. We have three highly effective vaccines and a steady increase in the availability of those vaccines. The Minnesota Department of Health indicates the timeline for expanding eligibility has been accelerated to include more people with specific underlying health conditions, in some cases as young as 16 years of age as a priority for vaccination.
We can be thankful for the amazing progress in developing effective COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year. We have witnessed major strides in the ability to detect and treat this disease. A well-focused medical research and development effort by an excellent government-private sector partnership that was forged early back in 2020 has paid big dividends. That effort has been critical to producing the medical successes we enjoy today.
While it is strictly your individual decision, as you become eligible to be vaccinated please consider that option as a means to protect yourself and the overall health of our local communities.
Sincerely,
Dale