KAXE/KBXE’s Heidi Holtan hosts a weekly statewide conversation with Minnesota State Officials. It’s your opportunity to ask questions about Minnesota’s response and plans concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, the Minnesota Department of Health Director of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division,
For more information on the state’s response to COVID-19 visit the Minnesota State’s Website.
If you’d like to ask the Lieutenant Governor or other state officials a question email covid@ampers.org or call 612-562-9895.
By every measure the state uses, we are seeing a second surge. In 85 of Minnesota’s 87 counties, there is too much Covid for schools to have full in-person classes. The number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths are the highest since June. And cold weather increases the risk of transmission as activities move indoors.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has announced an expansion of the state’s saliva testing program, which he says will significantly increase the state’s COVID-19 testing capacity, help reduce community spread, and offer more options for those who want a free test.
Today on the show, Host Leah Lemm looks at how schools are supporting their students under seemingly constantly changing conditions, especially given how internet access has been crucial for distance education for learners and educators of all ages.
The Minnesota Department of Health is further easing restrictions on long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning Saturday, Oct. 17, long-term care facilities will be able to allow indoor visits, as long as the facility hasn’t had a COVID-19 case in the prior two weeks … also, the positivity rate in the county the facility is in has to be under 10%.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz convened the fifth special session of the year where he extended the state’s COVID-19 peacetime emergency.
According to Walz, the 30-day extension into November is needed to ensure the state can continue to react quickly and effectively to the pandemic.