Archive: Listen to past daily COVID-19 briefings
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MPR News will provide an archive of the Minnesota Department of Health daily briefings here, as well as links to our daily coverage.
We’ll continue to update this page.
May COVID-19 briefings
May 20: Walz plan slow-walks bar, restaurant restarts
Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday unveiled cautious steps to restart parts of the state’s hard-hit restaurant and bar industry in the COVID-19 era. But it was not the plan those businesses were looking for.
May 19: Plan coming Wednesday for bars, eateries
Details weren’t available, but Steve Grove, the state’s commissioner of employment and economic development, wrote on Twitter that state leaders will unveil “phased plans” for those high-traffic venues, which have taken a huge economic hit during the pandemic.
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May 18: 731 dead; life curbs loosen, risk remains
Minnesota’s top health official on Monday implored residents to wear masks outdoors and keep their distance from others as the state loosens restrictions on daily life driven by COVID-19.
“Lower risk does not equal no risk,” Malcolm told reporters hours after Minnesota’s stay-at-home order, in place since late March, expired.
May 15: 683 deaths; alert issued for syndrome affecting kids
Minnesota is calling on parents, clinics and doctors to be on the lookout for a worrisome inflammatory condition affecting children believed to be related to COVID-19, and that’s proven deadly elsewhere.
May 14: 663 dead; 'need for vigilance' remains
A day after Gov. Tim Walz unveiled plans to end his stay-at-home order, state health officials on Thursday implored Minnesotans to self-regulate their behavior as they start gathering again in small groups and heading back to stores.
May 13: Walz ending stay-home order, keeping dine-out ban
In a 6 p.m. broadcast to the state, the governor confirmed what sources had told MPR News earlier in the day: He will let retail businesses resume in-store operations at reduced capacity, starting Monday. Group gatherings of 10 or fewer people, including at places of worship, will be allowed.
May 12: 614 deaths; cases top 12K
Projections for COVID-19 case growth, intensive care capacity, supplies of protective gear for health workers and economic data are among the drivers for the state leaders’ decision making, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said.
May 11: Stay-at-home decisions loom
With Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order set to expire on May 18, state health leaders say they’re collecting information now on COVID-19 and the state’s readiness for a surge of hospitalizations to help the governor decide whether to extend the restrictions or let them expire.
There are “active conversations” happening now about what the next steps should be on the stay-home order, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters.
May 8: 534 dead; 'This thing is going to be with us'
“These grim milestones are just a reminder that we’re still in the thick of this fight,” Gov. Tim Walz told reporters in an afternoon media briefing.
Documents show Minnesota plans to spend up to $7 million to purchase a cold-storage facility it can use if needed as a COVID-19 morgue. Most of the deaths so far have been in Hennepin County, which has had 362.
May 7: Deaths top 500, on pace for 1K by June
Gov. Tim Walz and state health officials Thursday detailed a new “battle plan” to safeguard Minnesotans living in long-term care facilities from COVID-19. They also braced Minnesotans to expect more cases and deaths across the state, and noted the disease is falling harder on people of color.
May 6: Total cases surge above 8K
Minnesota’s COVID-19 toll climbed again Wednesday as the Health Department reported 485 deaths, up 30 from Tuesday as the total number of cases since the pandemic began surged to 8,579.
May 5: 455 dead; big hits to state budget, economy
State budget leaders painted a grim picture Tuesday of the state’s short-term finances in the COVID-19 era as they projected a $2.4 billion budget hole through July 2021 and warned the economy will not be bouncing back quickly.
May 4: Bars, eateries suffer ‘monumental hit’
Reeling from weeks of economic fallout from COVID-19, Minnesota’s restaurant, resort and lodging industries are facing a flood of business failures if conditions don’t improve soon.
May 1: 28 more deaths, 594 new cases; 'Just getting our arms' around the spread
Minnesota’s health commissioner on May 1 defended Gov. Tim Walz’s decision to extend the state’s stay-at-home order as necessary in the face of rapidly rising numbers of COVID-19 cases reported and deaths recorded.
April COVID-19 briefings
April 30: Walz tweaks, extends stay-home order
With his current stay-at-home order set to expire, Gov. Tim Walz unveiled a plan Thursday that extends the order and keeps bars and restaurants takeout-only until May 18, but also makes changes to allow some additional retail store operations.
April 29: Walz to unveil next steps Thursday
“The guidance to stay close to home and to restrict large gatherings, to restrict close contact with anyone outside of your immediate household, those things are going to stand by,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters Wednesday. Wearing cloth masks and being “very careful” in public settings will remain part of the message, she said.
She and other state health leaders said Minnesotans should expect to see the COVID-19 outbreak widen as restrictions are relaxed and testing to uncover the disease intensifies, but they expressed confidence that Minnesota’s health care system was prepared to deal with an expected surge of cases and hospitalizations.
April 28: 'Not where we need to be' on testing
Minnesota health officials Tuesday acknowledged their “moonshot” project with Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota to quickly and massively ramp up COVID-19 tests may not reach Gov. Tim Walz’s goal to start testing 5,000 Minnesotans daily by next week.
April 27: Plants idled, livestock euthanized
The latest on the economic pain came from Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen, who told reporters that hogs will need to be euthanized because COVID-19 forced several large regional processing plants to shut, leaving local producers with nowhere to ship tens of thousands of hogs weekly. He called it a “very precarious situation.”
April 24: Cases top 3,000; Some students struggle
Gov. Tim Walz brought in the voices of teachers and students along with state health officials Friday as he updated Minnesota on the efforts to deal with the educational, medical and economic fallout from COVID-19.
April 23: 200 dead, more firms to reopen, State Fair doubts
As many as 100,000 manufacturing, industrial and office workers could be back to work as soon as Monday, but public school buildings will stay closed, and there is serious doubt about this year’s Minnesota State Fair.
April 22: Walz announces major testing push
"The ship is on the launch pad today,” Gov. Tim Walz said of a massive statewide COVID-19 testing plan with Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota. He spoke hours after Minnesota reported its largest single-day jump in COVID-19 deaths.
April 21: 160 deaths, most tied to long-term care
State health leaders faced fresh questions about the pace of COVID-19 testing and the number of deaths in long-term care facilities. With Minnesota cases continuing to climb, they made it clear that many curbs on daily life were still needed.
April 20: Walz cites good talk with Trump
Fielding questions from virus testing to food safety to a weekend talk with President Trump, Gov. Tim Walz said the state was on the right track preparing for an expected COVID-19 surge but continued to caution that normalcy won’t return soon to many parts of daily life in Minnesota.
April 17: Deaths rise to 111; Walz eases some outdoor curbs
Gov. Tim Walz mixed optimism with vigilance, urging Minnesotans to enjoy more outdoor activities but warning against a false sense of security about the disease as he confirmed new cases tied to a massive pork processing plant in southwestern Minnesota.
April 16: U eyes going big on testing
Minnesota officials reported 94 deaths tied to COVID-19, up seven from the previous day. Hospitalizations rose, and 103 people were in intensive care units, up 10 from the prior day.
April 15: Walz says states must ‘go it alone’ on testing
Gov. Tim Walz drew a bright line tying a successful reopening of Minnesota’s economy to a massive increase in COVID-19 testing, making it clear that one could not happen without the other.
April 14: Job losses falling hard on people of color
Gov. Tim Walz and other state leaders made clear that a massive scale-up in testing was key to reopening businesses while trying to keep people safe.
April 13: Walz ties reopening economy to massive jump in testing
Gov. Tim Walz signaled the state planned to move into a more aggressive posture to test for COVID-19 and trace and isolate those infected as part of the next phase of reopening parts of the economy.
April 10: 57 dead; possible only 1 percent of cases found
Health officials made it clear that the 1,336 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Minnesota might reflect as little as 1 percent of all the cases in the state right now.
April 9: Walz faces GOP pushback over stay-home order
Gov. Tim Walz urged Minnesotans to stay vigilant to help stem the disease’s spread — and he responded to fresh criticism from a key GOP leader that extending the stay-at-home order through May 4 was not warranted.
April 8: Walz extends stay-home order to May 4
Gov. Tim Walz said he’s extending his stay-at-home order for Minnesota through May 4 as state leaders work to slowly reopen parts of the economy without worsening the spread of COVID-19.
April 7: Walz eyes 'refined' stay-home order
Gov. Tim Walz offered a glimmer of hope on the arc of COVID-19 cases even as he urged Minnesotans to continue keeping their public distance to check the disease’s spread and signaled he’ll extend his stay-at-home order, with some tweaks, beyond Friday.
April 6: Walz eyes extending restrictions
Gov. Tim Walz said he’ll decide in the next two days on whether to renew his current two-week, stay-at-home order. However, he strongly indicated some restrictions will continue past Friday as officials work to manage the disease’s spread.
April 4: State releases list of affected long-term care facilities
The Minnesota Department of Health started releasing the names of long-term care facilities with COVID-19 cases. It's the first time health officials have released a list identifying the affected facilities; they had previously cited data privacy concerns for withholding the names.
April 3: Stay-home order may go past April 10
Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged the social isolation and economic hit many Minnesotans are taking in the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and painful. In his regular media briefing, Walz emphasized that the success of the campaign against COVID-19 still rested on the daily actions of Minnesotans willing to stay out of close public contact and slow the spread of the disease so it doesn’t overwhelm the state’s health care system.
April 2: Treatment costs waived; schools may stay shut
Gov. Tim Walz conceded that it was unlikely that school buildings, which he’d ordered closed through early May, will reopen this school year as the state works to check the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
April 1: Concerns rise over lab supplies
As COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to rise, Minnesota officials said they were still working to secure needed testing supplies and get unemployment checks to people as quickly as possible.
March COVID-19 briefings
March 31: Health officials say possible late May peak for virus
Updating reporters, Gov. Tim Walz said the state’s modeling suggests the peak for hospitalizations could be pushed into late May in Minnesota, although that could happen two weeks earlier or later.
March 30: 10 dead, 24 in ICU; cases jump to 576
Gov. Tim Walz said the state was also working to secure masks and other gear it will need to protect health care workers as cases escalate. He said Minnesota has enough medical equipment and supplies for now, but that state officials and health care providers are in a race against time.
March 29: Death toll rises to 9
The confirmed COVID-19 death toll in Minnesota climbed to nine, as the overall tally of confirmed cases increased to 503.
March 28: Stay-at-home order takes effect
A fifth person has died from COVID-19 in Minnesota, state health officials announced. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill to provide $330 million in assistance. Walz’s stay-at-home order, intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 across the state went into effect.
March 27: Governor's 2-week stay-home order starts Saturday
Gov. Tim Walz said the state has 1,268 adult ventilators on hand for intensive care cases and is working to secure more, believing they will be needed.