Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday announced a coronavirus plan to allow elementary schools to open while keeping bars and restaurants closed to indoor in-person service.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Walz released a summary of his plan that prioritizes in-person learning for elementary students over opening bars and restaurants. It also allows gyms to reopen and eases some restrictions on youth sports and social gatherings.
In remarks delivered before a scheduled 1:15 p.m. address on his YouTube channel, Walz said the past month’s restrictions have been working, but cases levels are still dangerously high and straining the state’s health care system.
“There is strong evidence we are starting to turn a corner thanks to the hard work of Minnesotans over the last few weeks to keep each other safe,” Walz said in a statement. “But we aren’t out of the woods yet. This way forward will help bridge the gap to vaccination by continuing to protect hospital capacity while prioritizing getting our kids back in the classroom and supporting Minnesotans’ quality of life.”
Walz’s office released statements from eight Minnesota health care CEOs stating in various ways that despite the falling case numbers and the arrival of a vaccine, their systems and staff are still under unprecedented stress, and people are dying.
Walz’s announcement comes on the same day he signed into law a $217 million state COVID relief package for small businesses and employees hurt by the pandemic and its restrictions.
Walz will allow outdoor dining and drink service, with restrictions, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter and statements from his office.
UPDATE: Bars, gyms, schools, social gatherings: Here are some of the new restrictions
The decision by Walz is part of an international trend, from New York City to Europe, of prioritizing K-5 schools over bars and restaurants that acknowledges several COVID facets:
- Children under 10 appear to be much less likely to fall ill from COVID-19 — and to infect others — for reasons not fully understood. Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Prevention and an advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, said on his podcast last week that much remains unknown about how children spread the virus, but he thinks elementary schools can safely reopen — but not necessarily junior high and high schools.
- Indoor, maskless gatherings of adults, such as when drinking and eating — and especially when socializing in a bar later in the evening as alcohol flows — is a major source of transmission.
- The toll on young children of extended periods of distance learning and no socialization with peers is believed to be wide — not just on the kids, but on society and the economy. The children’s parents are often unable to work, or work effectively, not to mention the stress that parents in such straits can feel.
- The specter of young children failing to prosper and see their friends while young adults cavort into the night at bars has become increasingly unseemly for some, although the economic toll of closing bars and restaurants is apparent to all as well.
Currently, the state provides guidance to school districts based on how widespread coronavirus cases are in their communities. The guidance suggests schools be open for in-person, closed and only open for distance learning, or some hybrid of both. Thus far, state education officials have generally allowed local school districts to make their own decisions, although many have fallen in line with the state guidance.
Walz is changing the current state guidance for elementary schools, allowing them to open even when higher levels of the virus are spreading in the community than currently allowed.
Schools will be allowed to open starting Jan. 4, but none will be compelled to.
It’s unclear how many districts will be able to open. Many districts, especially larger ones, have spoken of logistical challenges of transportation, classroom layout and other aspects that would have to shift when changing from distance learning to in-person.
Walz closed bars and restaurants as part of a suite of restrictions nearly a month ago when cases suddenly surged at rates not seen elsewhere in the world. The restrictions, which included shutting down health clubs, youth sports and banning social gatherings with people outside your household, followed pleas from medical professionals, who were warning that hospitals were at risk of being overrun as the virus raged.
OTHER NEWS COMING
Walz announced Wednesday that he’ll allow health clubs to reopen under restrictions.
The governor will also ease the ban on inter-household gatherings, which effectively outlawed extended-family Thanksgiving dinners and Hanukkah menorah lightings — and could have the same effect on Christmas morning.
Walz will allow some sports activities to resume.
For a summary of each aspect of the new restrictions, go here.
THE SCHOOLS ISSUE
State guidelines released in the summer advised school leaders to keep their elementary schools closed if their county had 50 or more coronavirus cases per 10,000 residents over a recent two-week period. The threshold for closing middle and high schools was set at 30 new cases per 10,000 residents.
Every county now exceeds those new-case thresholds.
Walz’s new order, which he announced Wednesday, will essentially get rid of the threshold for elementary schools.
School leaders also are expected to monitor the virus’s impact in their buildings, including the number of staff who are out sick or on quarantine. Today, elementary schools are closed in 47 of Minnesota’s 50 largest school districts, and all 50 have closed their middle and high schools.
No Minnesotans ages 5-19 have died from the coronavirus, according to Minnesota Department of Health statistics.
St. Paul Superintendent Joe Gothard is expected to announce Thursday night whether elementary schools will transition to a hybrid schedule on Jan. 19. The district has been in distance learning since March.
In his podcast, Osterholm said it’s hard to trust data on schools and coronavirus transmission because the people collecting it are trying to support their points of view.
Still, it’s evident that younger children are less likely to transmit the disease, he said, and it appears teachers who contract the virus are getting it from contacts outside the workplace.
“I think that 5- to 9-year-olds can clearly be in a classroom right now with the appropriate prevention practices in place, teachers can safely teach,” Osterholm said.
Older students, however, should remain in distance learning as long as case rates are high in their communities, he said.
“When the house is on fire in the community, these kids are going to be getting infected, they’re going to transmit it in the school, and distance learning really is the most valuable way of learning,” Osterholm said.
