Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says K-12 schools closing; state now has 35 confirmed cases of COVID-19
State indicating that schools could be shut down even longer.
Minnesota now has 35 cases of COVID-19, Gov. Tim Walz said Sunday as he announced that all of Minnesota’s K-12 schools will closed for at least eight school days starting Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the virus.
Walz and state Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker made the announcement Sunday morning in St. Paul.
“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. “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 governor signed an executive order to close schools starting Wednesday through Friday, March 27.
Ricker said schools need to prepare in case they need to close schools for even longer than eight days.
“We are not accommodating for a couple snow days, we are planning for the potential for weeks of distance learning,” she said.
She said the state expects schools to continue to pay hourly workers like nutrition staff and school bus drivers and they are “incorporated into our state’s distance learning plans.”
The closing will “accommodate planning between school staff, teachers, and administrators with guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH),” the governor’s initial release said.
The executive order requires schools to provide care for elementary-age children of health care professionals, first responders, and other emergency workers during previously planned school days.
On Friday, state officials said schools would remain open, partly so that health care workers don’t have to stay home to provide child care, and partly due to epidemiological evidence that COVID-19 is not spreading rapidly among children and that school closures haven’t been effective in this global outbreak.
However, Walz and state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said then that school closures could be ordered as the pandemic unfolds
http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-sch...568812082/
If anyone believes there is only 35 Covid-19 cases in this state, I've got a bridge in Bklyn to sell cheap. Rant over, for now.