Minnesota Governor Tim Walz released a grim prognosis, Monday.
Walz gave his daily update on the state of the COVID-19 epidemic in Minnesota remotely at the beginning of this week after he entered quarinetime following contact with the virus. During the briefing, Walz predicted that up to 80% of Minnesotans will contract coronavirus.
“The numbers run pretty high that over the course of this [virus] that between 40 and 80 percent of Minnesotans will have become infected with COVID-19,” he said.
However, despite these high numbers, “the vast majority [of those infected] will recover without hospitalization,” he added.
Walz also characterized the likelihood of a shelter in place order as “possible and probable.”
“This will not be able to be a shelter in place for a week to two weeks,” he added, “it will probably have to look like multiple weeks to months to get the desired effect of slowing it [the virus] down.”
Under such a shelter in place order, “more businesses would close, [and] social interactions would be much more restricted than they are,” according to the Governor.
The business shutdowns Walz has already ordered have forced more than 100,000 Minnesotans to apply for unemployment benefits, reports the Brainerd Dispatch.
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According to Minnesota’s Constitution and statutory law, your rights don’t change much during an emergency.https://t.co/p0JfsbFjXk
— Alpha News MN (@AlphaNewsMN) March 24, 2020
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California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and West Virginia have already declared shelter in place orders, according to the New York Times.
Walz also issued an executive order to activate the National Guard to assist with the coronavirus pandemic last week.
Minnesota had 235 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Sunday, according to the Star Tribune.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
