Dear Neighbors,

My dentist’s office called last week to cancel my semiannual dental hygiene appointment and I took the opportunity to ask Dr. Weber about any plans she might be making to reopen. She told me that the Minnesota Board of Dentistry (MBD) is working with the profession to determine which measures would need to be in place for dental practices to safely open for routine dental hygiene procedures. She expects to be open later this month after procuring the personal protective equipment recommended by the MBD, including a supply of the KN95 masks which she has ordered from a reputable industrial supply wholesaler. She mentioned that her hygienists were expressing reluctance to resume work until the necessary PPE was on hand and new COVID-19 protocols were in place.

I really need a haircut and so I have also reached out to the Executive Director of the Board of Cosmetology to make sure that they’re doing the same kind of planning for their profession.

In both of these cases, it’s obvious that the controlling factor is going to be access to personal protective equipment, for the benefit of both the practitioners and the customers. The woman who cuts my hair, Kelsie Harris, is married to a man with diabetes. I know that Kelsie is going to be unwilling to come back to work until she knows that she and her family are going to be protected from the COVID-19 virus. This is the rub: even if all of these businesses were suddenly allowed to reopen, tomorrow, would their employees be willing to return to work without access to PPE? Would their customers be willing to make appointments without knowing that these offices were properly equipped to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus?

I have been impressed with the fact that the Walz administration is working closely with industry trade groups in a public-private partnership to develop safety protocols on an industry-by-industry basis. The partial reopening of retail establishments for curbside pickup under a protocol which was developed in cooperation with the Minnesota Retailers Association is a model for what’s to come.  There is not going to be a day when either the President or the Governor suddenly waves a magic wand and announces that everyone can go back to work as if this pandemic had never happened. Instead, we are going to see a series of rolling re-openings of individual industries and professions as each industry develops its own set of safety protocols and is able to obtain adequate supplies of the personal protective equipment that is appropriate for its business.

At this point, the supply of N95 masks is barely adequate to supply essential healthcare workers treating cases of COVID-19. It’s going to be a while before Kelsie has access to the PPE that she would need to feel safe cutting my hair.

Stay at Home Order Extended with Some Exceptions

Governor Walz announced that the stay at home order will be extended until May 18th, with some important alterations to help more businesses conduct commerce safely. Staying at home is working, but Minnesota still needs some more time before we can take greater steps towards normalcy. Each and every one of you who have followed the order and practiced social distancing have bought Minnesota critical time. This time has allowed Minnesota to better prepare the infrastructure necessary to fully manage COVID-19. As a result, we are able to continue making progress towards gradually and thoughtfully restoring normalcy to life in our state. You can watch the governor’s full briefing here.

Starting today, all retail establishments will be able to return to work, provided they establish a safe process to do so through curbside pick-up or delivery. All businesses must establish a comprehensive, safe operating procedure to protect the health and wellbeing of employees and customers. There is a template available here for businesses if they wish to use the state’s guidance as a resource, you can also click here for more information from the Minnesota Retailers Association. With this change to the existing restrictions on business operations, up to 30,000 Minnesotans will be able to return to work safely.

In consultation with, and at the urging of hospitals and ambulatory care centers, the state halted elective surgeries in order to preserve PPE supplies. Now that the state and healthcare providers have made significant progress in obtaining PPE supplies (although we continue to compete with other states in order to reach the capacity we need), we are beginning to ease into planning for the scaled provision of elective surgeries again.

DFL Taking Action to Ensure Economic Security for all Minnesotans

The House and Senate DFL outlined our COVID-19 economic security agenda this week, which focuses on the following priorities. Follow along at the #WhoCaresForUs hashtag to see the stories of how many of these priorities would lift up the Minnesotans who are keeping the state runnings:

• Keeping Minnesotans safe in their homes with a $100 million investment in housing assistance
• Providing economic security for our education professionals by ensuring full pay for our hourly school employees
• Providing economic security for the personal care assistants who care for vulnerable Minnesotans through a well-deserved and long-overdue wage increase
• Keeping Minnesotans connected by ensuring all Minnesotans have access to the broadband they need to go online

Helping families make ends meet by using available federal funding to boost payments for low-income working Minnesotans in the Minnesota Family Investment Program

Unemployment for Self-Employed Minnesotans

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced that it has started dispersing the initial pandemic unemployment assistance payments to self-employed, contract, and other workers in Minnesota who are not normally eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. If you are an eligible worker in these categories whose employment has been interrupted as a result of COVID-19, you can find instructions for how to apply for unemployment, and you can submit your application for unemployment insurance benefits, here.

If you have already applied, or did not follow these specific instructions when applying, you do not need to reapply for unemployment. MN DEED will be proactively reaching out to everyone regarding their eligibility. You will also receive the additional $600/week payment, and your unemployment payments will be backdated to when you first became eligible as a result of COVID-19.

Keep in Touch

Now more than ever, please contact me anytime with questions, input, or ideas. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide any assistance. This situation is evolving constantly and I will be sure to update you with any changes. Please follow me on my Facebook page for further updates and invite your friends and family to do so as well.

Thanks for the honor of representing you at the Capitol.

Sincerely,

Steve Elkins
Representative, District 49B
Minnesota House of Representatives
515 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
(651) 296-7803