Gov. Tim Walz announced a statewide mandate Wednesday requiring Minnesotans to wear face masks in stores, public buildings and other places where people gather indoors, a dramatic extension of his emergency powers in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that still appears on the upswing in many states.
The new rule takes effect Saturday and would apply to most indoor spaces outside people’s homes, as well as in some circumstances outdoors where social distancing is difficult. Diners, for example, would be expected to wear masks while they’re entering and moving around in restaurants, but not while they’re eating or drinking. Exceptions would also be granted for young children and people with special medical conditions.
“If we can get a 90 to 95% compliance, which we’ve seen the science shows, we can reduce the infection rates dramatically, which slows that spread and breaks that chain,” Walz said. “This is the way, the cheapest, the most effective way for us to open up our businesses, for us to get our kids back in school, for us to keep our grandparents healthy and for us to get back that life that we all miss so much.”
If you look at the data, the vast majority of positive COVID cases in Minnesota have occurred in the metro area where a good number of cities and businesses already had mandates. But even before said mandates, it appeared many Twin Cities and metro area residents were donning masks. However, to extend this outstate is a silly exercise given that social distancing is more practical in those areas. Dr. Michael Osterholm also emphasized this point in a piece posted Wednesday (emphasis mine).
Don't, however, use the wearing of cloth face coverings as an excuse to decrease other crucial, likely more effective, protective steps, like physical distancing.
If one was hearing Gov. Walz for the first time Wednesday, one might ascertain his logic is sound. But the problem is he's made statements over the previous four months which didn't age well.
Tim Walz said with 95% certainty MN would have 20K deaths. ICU beds were supposed to be in crisis this week. That’s with masking, mitigation, distancing.— Max Rymer (@MaxRRymer) July 19, 2020
It’s time to totally reopen, protect our nursing homes, & end emergency powers. Models were wrong. The doomsday is not real.
For the record, Minnesota had 1,552 COVID deaths as of Wednesday, with 75-80% coming from long-term care facilities (with Walz's disastrous policies having a hand in that). And the only time ICU beds were even approaching the beginning of a crisis was due to a flood of patients who had put off "elective" procedures for a month or two. Sadly their circumstances became more dire due to the delays.
“Getting people to buy into wearing the mask is what you’re trying to do,” Walz said. “The mandate is not to punish people, it’s to put the emphasis behind doing that.”
Unfortunately for Gov. Walz, enough people have tuned him out due to the doomsday scenarios that never came to fruition. That and the complete pass given to social justice protests which featured no social distancing and intermittent face mask usage.
It's gonna be interesting to hear Walz's rationale next week on why kids shouldn't go back to school in the fall. The "science" he loves to tout would support them going back but his teachers union supporters will likely be singing a different tune.
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