The future of a strong childcare industry after Covid in Minnesota lies in ensuring that the state does not go back to stringent rules that have contributed to a much worse childcare crisis during this pandemic....
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Admissions are surging so why is capacity falling?...
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Since Minnesota's second surge in cases began in mid-September, more cases have been traced to care homes than bars and restaurants. Gov. Walz has got his priorities wrong. ...
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If workers do become more sensitive to state taxes as a result of Covid-19, it should give state policymakers pause for thought before hiking taxes further....
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Our state faces a very serious problem with Covid-19: our care homes remain disaster areas and ICU occupancy continues to rise. State government and local media should not be trying to scare us unduly. ...
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Since Gov. Walz launched his Five-Point Plan to protect Minnesota’s Long-Term Care residents and workers from Covid-19, care home residents have accounted for 69% of all the state's Covid-19 deaths....
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To prevent an abuse of emergency powers in future, we propose that any state of emergency declared by a governor under Chapter 12 of the Minnesota Statues will automatically expire after 14 days unless renewed for a specified length of time by a two-thirds vote of both the Minnesota House and the Minnesota Senate. ...
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According to top health officials, if Minnesotans were taking precautions, we would not need additional Covid-19 restrictions. Setting aside the lack of evidence for that claim, how will closing bars early and limiting family gatherings protect high-risk individuals in long-term care facilities that continue to make up the majority of deaths?...
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Back in September, I wrote: For the time being at least, while COVID-19 is still with us, the data is clear: The emergency period of this pandemic is over. I wrote this because, as I've argued, the share of Minnesota’s ICU beds in use is the correct benchmark for whether we are in an emergency or not. And: ICU hospitalizations, the health department said, surged from an average of 111 for the seven days up to and including July 18 to 154 for the seven days up to and including Aug. 10 — still below any time between May 6 and June 29....
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Gov. Walz was correct to sign an order allowing healthcare workers licensed in other states to work in Minnesota. If this is good policy in time of a crisis, it is something we ought to look at permanently. That means joining the national Nurse Licensure Compact. ...
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