Minnesota coronavirus reopening: Here are 5 things that have NOT changed - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

Monday marked a significant day for Minnesota’s re-emerging from lockdown as Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order expired.

But Minnesota health officials Monday cautioned that numerous key elements of life in a pandemic have not changed. In fact, they said, they’re bedrock principles for the near future.

“We are going to be in this phase of staged reopening for quite a while,” Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said in a conference call with reporters. “The way to kind of live with the virus in an ongoing way is … going to really require treatment and vaccination before we feel we can really think the environment is safe. We’re going to really need to keep up these behaviors for a long time to come to be operating in the new normal.”

The measures aren’t specific to Minnesota, but are backed by the White House Task Force and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as number independent health agencies, doctors and researchers.

Here are five.

STAY APART, WEAR A MASK

Keep 6 feet apart from anyone not in your household, and wear a face covering — such as a cloth or surgical mask — any time you’re outside your home.

Health officials acknowledge that not every outside activities and setting should require a mask, but increasing research is showing that the types of droplets that can spread the coronavirus are expelled not just by coughing, but even normal talking.

The closer you are to others and the more confined the setting, the more the need to wear a mask.

As a reminder, you don’t wear a mask to protect yourself, but to protect others from you, in case you have the virus and don’t know it; conversely, you want others to do the same.

IF SICK, GET TESTED, STAY HOME

Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm (Dave Orrick / Pioneer Press)

If you develop any symptoms — cough, fever, muscle pain, chills, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, repeated shaking, or sore throat — call your doctor to get tested.

And stay home and isolated until you get the results.

If you’re positive, quarantine yourself, as you’ll be instructed by your medical provider. Don’t think that you can don a mask and go out.

BUSINESSES NEED A PLAN

Whether you run an office, an assembly plan or a store, all businesses are required to have a plan, and it’s more than just wiping down counters and putting out some containers of hand sanitizer.

The state “employer preparedness plan” checklist — which can be found via MN.gov/COVID19 — includes a host of guidelines, including:

• Make cloth masks available for all employees
• Ask, encourage or require all customers and employees to wear masks
• Screen customers and workers and ensure symptomatic ones don’t come inside
• Keep workers 6 feet apart

“There’s a lot that businesses are doing,” Malcolm said, referring to the guidelines, which are not all legally binding under Minnesota’s current orders — but which could be and are in some other states.

KEEP GATHERINGS SMALL

Health officials acknowledge the current order limiting group gatherings to 10 or fewer people isn’t a magic number, but an attempt to emphasize that groups are potentially problematic.

As an example, Malcolm said that if you have a family of eight, while in some ways that family can be seen as one unit, that doesn’t mean you should allow 10 additional people into your backyard, and certainly not your house.

“We know how very important it is to pay attention to situations that likely pose higher risk, when you’re in close contact with people for longer duration,especially in closed environments,” she said. “Those are situations that are, quite frankly, to be avoided.”

BE SMART

Understand that the risk of catching and spreading the virus is the same for everyone. At the same time, the risk of getting severely ill isn’t. Those at higher risk — including the elderly, the obese, those with compromised immune systems, diabetics, and those with respiratory conditions or heart disease — should consider their own vulnerability.

“As we move into these later stages where we believe risk can be managed, it’s very important for people to understand that lower risk does not equal no risk,” Malcolm said.

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