Minnesota Governor Walz flexed his emergency executive power again, Wednesday, extending his stay at home order to last until May 4.
Walz’s original order required citizens to stay in their homes when not conducting essential business from March 27 through Friday, April 10. One day before that order was set to expire, he extended it until May 4.
This means that the stay at home order will be in place for at least 40 days. By the time all of Walz’s current orders expire, barring further extensions, schools and businesses will have been closed for even longer.
“We can’t let up,” Walz says. “I know this is hard for our entire state. We know every day families, businesses, and communities are making sacrifices.”
During his announcement, Walz also asked Minnesotans to for “patience” and demanded that they “not get complacent” in their fight against the virus.
Minnesota law enforcement agencies seem to be zealously upholding the governor’s orders, too. Multiple people have already been charged with violating the stay at home order.
At the time of Walz’s stay at home extension announcement, Minnesota had reported 1,154 total cases of coronavirus since the outbreak began. 632 of these had recovered to the point where isolation was no longer necessary, leaving 522 cases still active. The state had also suffered 39 deaths from COVID-19, accoridng to the Minnesota Department of Health.