St. Paul, Minnesota — This afternoon, Governor Walz announced an extension of his Stay at Home Executive Order, directing Minnesotans to limit movements outside of their homes until May 18, 2020. The Governor also announced that starting May 4, retail businesses and other non-critical businesses may begin offering curbside pick-up and delivery.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Majority Leader Ryan Winkler released the following statements:
“During this pandemic, Minnesota's government is faced with excruciating choices as we work to preserve the health, safety, and economic well-being of Minnesotans,” said Speaker Hortman. “I am pleased to see some increased flexibility for businesses and consumers under the Governor's announcement today. The sacrifices we have made have been difficult for all of us, but have been necessary to allow us the time to prepare for the surge that appears increasingly inevitable. We cannot lose sight of the reason we all are sacrificing so much — we are working to preserve as many lives as we can. The Walz Administration and our health care professionals have used this time well to dramatically upgrade our level of preparedness. We have substantially more hospital capacity, ventilators, and personal protective equipment than we did when the stay-at-home order began. We have to stick together and keep doing all we can to slow the spread of this disease so we have the supplies we need to care for Minnesotans and to protect our health care workers.”
“Now is not the time to retreat. If we continue to fight this virus, we can build a stronger, safer, and better Minnesota as we come out of this crisis,” said Majority Leader Winkler. “Calls to disregard public health concerns now will further delay our efforts to get more Minnesotans safely back to work. Instead of putting Minnesotans’ health at risk, we should continue focusing on how to safeguard Minnesotans’ health and well-being now and into the future. That’s exactly what Governor Walz and his Administration are trying to do.”