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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Stay-at-home order to be lifted Sunday night

Posted 5/13/20

STATEWIDE- Minnesotans will be free to venture out of their homes next week as Gov. Tim Walz will let his stay-at-home order expire on Sunday night, moving the state’s efforts to slow …

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Stay-at-home order to be lifted Sunday night

Posted

STATEWIDE- Minnesotans will be free to venture out of their homes next week as Gov. Tim Walz will let his stay-at-home order expire on Sunday night, moving the state’s efforts to slow transmission of the coronavirus to a new phase.

Retail businesses can resume in-store operations at reduced capacity, starting Monday. Group gatherings of 10 or fewer people, including at places of worship, will be allowed.

However, even with the relaxed rules, Walz will keep in place restrictions on restaurants, bars, theaters, bowling alleys and venues that attract large crowds.

"We’re not flipping a switch and everything’s going back to normal at once,” he said in his broadcast address.

Restaurants will remain takeout-only for now, but according to Walz’s order a plan for “limited and safe” reopening of bars, restaurants and other places of public accommodation June 1 will be presented to the public no later than May 20. Those establishments are likely to face capacity limits.

Hair salons and barber shops remain restricted to product sales for the time being.

Walz also said he signed an executive order ensuring that people can raise safety concerns about their workplaces without discrimination or retaliation.

During his Wednesday evening address, Walz praised Minnesotans for toughing it out the past two months, saying the stay-home order keeping Minnesotans from congregating in crowded public places had helped check the spread of the disease and bought Minnesota time to secure needed health care supplies and prepare for a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

He acknowledged that the move had cost tens of thousands of Minnesotans their jobs as retail, hospitality and other sectors shut down.

Walz asked people to continue to work from home if possible, wear masks out, stay six feet from others even in groups of 10 or fewer, and get tested if they show symptoms of COVID-19.

"We are still in the heart of this pandemic and this can go in a bad direction quickly,” he said. The goal, he added, was to keep the spread of the disease to a simmer and not a boil.

(Minnesota Public Radio contributed to this article. This is a developing story.)