Good Monday morning. Suffice it to say a lot has changed in the last few days. Here's a recap of some of it. 1. Governor declares peacetime emergency. Gov. Tim Walz moved Friday to limit gatherings in Minnesota to fewer than 250 people and declared a “peacetime emergency” to heighten the state’s readiness to respond to COVID-19. The event-size cap isn’t the kind of strict ban being ordered in some other states. Rather, it is being couched as recommended guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health. It applies to things such as church services, youth sports events, business conferences and other gatherings. “This is about reducing a pandemic in society,” Walz told reporters as he announced the measures. “We're not going to have people out there writing tickets" to groups of more than 250 people, but “Minnesotans … need to be prepared for some significant disruptions” over the next few months. Walz also indicated he expected coronavirus worries would continue for months and that experts anticipate a “spike” in the fall even after the current phase ebbs. MPR News
2. Schools to close temporarily. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Sunday that he is ordering K-12 public schools across the state to close by Wednesday and remain closed through March 27 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. “My top priority as governor is the safety of Minnesotans. As a former teacher, and father of two teenage kids, I’m especially focused on the safety of our children,” Walz said in a news release. “I am ordering the temporary closure of schools so educators can make plans to provide a safe learning environment for all Minnesota students during this pandemic. Closing schools is never an easy decision, but we need to make sure we have plans in place to educate and feed our kids regardless of what’s to come.” The news comes as Walz said Minnesota's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 35 on Sunday, up from 14 on Friday and 21 on Saturday. MPR News
3. Educators prep for virtual return. When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Sunday that all K-12 public schools in the state must close by Wednesday to slow the spread of coronavirus, Marie Hansen breathed a sigh of relief. The 11th-grade English teacher in Burnsville has Type 1 diabetes — and as an immunocompromised person, that makes her especially vulnerable to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Hansen works at Burnsville High School, where there are more than 2,500 students and staff coming and going from the building each day. Before the announcement, she was worried about her ability to participate in social distancing in a school that large. Walz and other state officials said the school closure, through March 27, is intended to allow educators to prepare for the possibility of longer-term online education. For Hansen, distance learning will be easy: a lot of her curriculum is already online, each student at her school has a Chromebook and students who don’t have internet access at home are given a hotspot to get online. But not all students and teachers have those resources, or as smooth a transition to online learning. MPR News
4. Corrections facilities plan for coronavirus. The Minnesota Department of Corrections is setting up a command post and incident management team to help deal with the novel coronavirus. The virus has not been detected in any state facility, Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said in a news release Friday morning. The Sherburne County Sheriff's Office announced Friday afternoon it would suspend on-site video visitations for the jail and suspend fingerprinting services. A service offered on the jail's website allows people to hold video visitations off site. The DOC has taken steps to plan for a possible spread to the prison system. On Thursday, the department suspended visitors to all facilities indefinitely. St. Cloud Times
5. Public defender pushes for inmate release. The State Public Defender's Office is rallying its staff to demand the release of jail inmates across Minnesota to protect them from the spread of the novel coronavirus. "It is up to us to push this on behalf of our clients — no one is going to do it but us," state Chief Public Defender Bill Ward wrote in an e-mail sent to staffers on Sunday. The plea comes just days after an unprecedented announcement Friday that the courts would postpone several types of cases while continuing with high priority cases. The Minnesota federal court system on the same day announced broader measures, temporarily suspending all criminal and civil trials starting March 23 through April 27. Ward said in an interview Sunday and in his e-mail that he expected additional operational changes to the courts by the end of the week. "I'm a realist," he said. The State Court Administrator's Office denied impending changes. Star Tribune | 