MN Could Ease Coronavirus Social Distancing In Late May: Analysis

Minnesota might be able to safely ease its "Stay Home" order in late May, new projections show. The state could relax social distancing on May 26, according to analysts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

"Relaxing social distancing may be possible with containment strategies that include testing, contact tracing, isolation, and limiting gathering size," the analysis reads.

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IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray warned that timing the return to work would have to be carefully controlled.

"The challenge – as well as opportunity – is for states to figure out how to reopen the US economy and allow people to get back to work without sacrificing that progress," Murray said in a statement.

"Relaxing social distancing too soon carries great risks of a resurgence of new infections. No one wants to see this vicious cycle repeating itself."

Coronavirus in Minnesota

Since Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency on March 13, Minnesota has taken unprecedented steps to respond to COVID-19:

• Closure of schools and implementation of a distance learning period
• Activation of the National Guard to assist in relief efforts
• Measures to preserve personal protective equipment
• Temporary closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation
• Efforts to provide economic relief and stability
• Regulatory changes allowing our state agencies and licensing boards
• Directed Minnesotans to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus

Walz extended the emergency earlier this month. "The next stages of this pandemic are going to challenge us – an extension of Minnesota's peacetime emergency will allow us to protect Minnesotans' health and wellbeing and continue to respond effectively to this rapidly-evolving situation," he said at the time.

Minnesota's current "Stay Home" order expires May 4. It was already extended once.

Seventeen more people have died from the new coronavirus, the Minnesota Department of Health announced Tuesday. That brings the state's overall death toll from the virus to 160.

Tuesday is tied for the biggest daily increase in deaths from the new coronavirus in Minnesota.

More than 2,500 people have tested positive for COVID-19.

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