His biggest misstep in all this had been stalling on the mandate hoping the Republicans would cone around on it.

Last edited Wed Jul 22, 2020, 05:26 PM - Edit history (1)

I gathered from these 2 articles.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/22/latest-on-covid19-in-mn

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/22/minnesotas-mask-mandate-what-you-need-to-know

From these 2 articles, I came up with this list --

People in Minnesota are required to wear a face coverings --

# in all public indoor spaces and businesses, unless they are alone. This includes when waiting outside to enter an indoor public space.

# on public transportation, including buses and trains, and in taxis or vehicles that are used for a business purpose.

# when at a business, either indoors or outdoors, that requires face coverings. (presumably if its indoors, the first one above covers that, i.e. its mandatory unless you are alone, regardless of if the business requires it or not. So this item is just adding the outdoor requirement if the business requires it. My interpretation).

# workers are required to wear a face covering when working outdoors in situations in which social distancing cannot be maintained.

# People with health conditions that make it difficult to tolerate wearing a face covering

#Any person who has trouble breathing or unable to remove the face covering without help

# People who at work with jobs where wearing a face covering would create a safety hazard as determined by local, state, or federal regulators or workplace safety guidelines

# "Bar and restaurant patrons don’t have to keep masks on as they eat and drink at a table with their party."

While eating or drinking, if you can maintain 6 feet of physical distance from others who are not a member of the same party.

When participating in indoor physical exercise—such as in a gym or fitness center—where the level of exertion makes wearing a face covering difficult, as long as social distancing can be maintained at all times.

The liberal reputation made me think that way, I guess.

the infection rate was somewhat steady. Walz probably didn't think it was necessary (and the GOPers in the legislature were making a stink, of course) until recently, since there has been a spike in positive tests.

Last edited Wed Jul 22, 2020, 05:24 PM - Edit history (1)

From 7/22/20 4:40 PM visit to the first link (nytimes.com) below. Includes data reported on 7/21 (doesn't include the 507 cases reported 7/22 11am)



https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/minnesota-coronavirus-cases.html

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/situation.html

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/22/latest-on-covid19-in-mn

As for why not sooner, I guess because per-capita we looked pretty good and the shutdowns were working. Oh, and as TVO mentioned in #4, the bigger cities have had mask requirements for some time.

What disappointed me was I thought some of the openings were premature, and sooner than a lot of other blue state governors. June 10 opened up the bars and indoor dining particularly questionable to me. (Patio dining/drinking began June 1).

In the graph - that huge spike in new cases reported on 7/20, followed by a rather small increase reported on 7/21 -- that's been blamed on transition to a new reporting system, and an article I read said its best to just average those 2 days.

For the latest: on 7/22 507 cases were reported, which is down from the approximately 600 cases 7-day average (but obviously there's a lot of day-to-day volatility, so no particular meaning to that, just an update).

The reporting days cover what happened the previous day, e.g. at 7/22 11a they reported what happened over the last 24 hours or on 7/21 or something like that.

... of the situation up there.

The mask mandate should be a big help. Almost nobody was wearing masks in my reddish-town until a countywide mandate was declared. Now I'm seeing nearly everyone wearing them when going indoors. I'm not even sure that the cops would really do anything to individual non-compliers here, but the mandate had a big impact regardless. (It's not statewide in Ohio until tomorrow.)

but 4 cops had different ideas last May ...

Here's the latest on the knee-on-the-neck cop, BTW:

Chauvin, wife charged with tax fraud, MPR News 7/22/20
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/22/chauvin-wife-charged-with-tax-fraud

I mean, the charges against them!

The mask mandate has definitely helped with the weirdness factor for me too. I saw glares from non-maskers several weeks ago, so I figured the mandate wouldn't change things very much around here. I'm thankful that I was wrong.

But we would prefer not to make headlines as we don't want to make a scene.

Google Janteloven.

I'm surprised it wasn't in "How to Talk Minnesotan" (or maybe it was & I just don't remember).

Not nearly as bad as some places, but they should have kept the bars closed because people are stupid, and even stupider when they drink. Of course the GOPers will have their usual hissy fits but screw 'em.

The story in today's strib was accompanied with two diners at a restaurant, each with a mask. But, at some point, they will have to be able to put food into their mouths..

I suppose they will remove them but then I thought that zippered masks could be helpful..