After prohibiting private gatherings over the Thanksgiving weekend, Gov. Tim Walz said Minnesotans can expect to see “very similar” restrictions around Christmas.
“I went from John Lithgow in Footloose to the Grinch,” Walz said during a Monday press conference when asked if people should start thinking about canceling their Christmas plans.
“We will not be into the heart of the vaccine distribution. That will not happen until the first of the year. So certainly, at this point in time, with the data that we have and the trend — and this is again making decisions based on where the trends are — I’m not going to surprise anybody. I think the guidance around Thanksgiving is going to be very similar around Christmas,” he continued.
Minnesotans are currently prohibited from hosting private gatherings with anyone from another household under an executive order issued by Walz.
“Anecdotally, Minnesotans did a pretty good job staying home, but there’s some data on movement, especially the airports and others, that show there was a lot of movement,” Walz said, referring to Thanksgiving travelers.
“I would assume that there would be little reason for me to believe that there’s going to be a dramatic change in the trajectory of the virus and the virus spread in the next, little less than four weeks,” he added.
Based on a recent call with Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Walz said it will probably be the first or second quarter of next year before a vaccine is distributed widely enough to “start to get the immunity and start to get the impact we need.”
Minnesota is expected to receive its first shipment of vaccines by mid-December, but they will be reserved for health care workers and at-risk seniors.
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Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
