Walz just extended lockdown for restaurants and other customer-facing businesses, worsening uncertainty

Today, Gov. Tim Walz held a press conference to let the state know the next step for the stay-at-home order. Minnesota’s stay-at-home order which was expected to expire on May 4th has been extended for some businesses like restaurants, dining places, and accommodation places to May 18th. Retail places can, however, open for curbside delivery or pickup.

Open businesses are expected and required to maintain social distancing as well as sanitizing rules. The state is focused on keeping the stay-at-home order in place while hospitals increase medical capacity. This includes the number of hospital beds, ICU beds, and testing capacity.

The uncertainty will harm businesses  

Businesses, especially restaurants, are facing a lot of uncertainty which is making it hard for them to plan for the future. Today’s briefing has not done much to ease that uncertainty.

Moreover, considering that opening also depends on how the state moves in the next two weeks, there is a possibility that this lockdown might be extended after May 18th.

All of this back and forth is bound to have significant impacts on businesses that are already on the brink of collapse. Breweries, for instance, have already expressed it would be hard for them to survive if the lockdown is extended past May 13th.