MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is postponing his State of the State Address and submitting to quarantine through March 25 following a positive COVID-19 test of a staff member.
The quarantine is a conservative precaution after Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm were in the same location as the infected individual during a news conference on Monday.
All agreed to quarantine, even though none had been within 6 feet of the infected individual for 15 minutes — which is the threshold for a moderate viral exposure risk. The staffer was tested on Tuesday and received results on Wednesday.
Walz had been scheduled to appear Wednesday morning at the state's new COVID-19 vaccination site in St. Cloud, but his attendance was abruptly postponed.
Flanagan, whose brother died of COVID-19 last year, has received one of two Moderna COVID-19 doses. Malcolm received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a public event on March 10, but won't be considered fully protected until 14 days after that injection.
Walz, 56, has yet to be vaccinated. This is his second COVID-19 quarantine. Walz confined himself for two weeks in April 2020 after a state trooper in his security detail tested positive.
"The governor hopes this serves as an important reminder for Minnesotans that, while we are close to the end of the pandemic, we must continue to take COVID-19 seriously," an announcement from his office stated.
While nearly 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Minnesota, health officials remain concerned about the continued spread of the coronavirus that causes the infectious disease. Genomic sequencing has found the presence of three more infectious variants of the virus in Minnesota — including one variant fueling an outbreak centered on youth sports events in Carver County.
The positivity rate of diagnostic COVID-19 testing reached 4% in Minnesota for the first time since Jan. 31, and the number of Minnesota hospital beds filled with COVID-19 patients increased from a low of 210 on March 6 to 282 on Tuesday.
