Tag: pandemic

Rep. Patty Acomb (HD44B) Update: December 17, 2020

Dear Neighbors, 

It’s been an eventful week in Minnesota! The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in our state on Monday, hopefully marking the beginning of the end of the pandemic. That night, the Minnesota House and Senate passed a COVID-19 assistance package to support working families and small businesses. Governor Walz signed the bill into law yesterday. He also provided an update on the measures that are in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

New COVID-19 Assistance  

Earlier this week, we delivered new economic assistance for workers and small businesses. The COVID-19 assistance package we approved extends unemployment insurance for Minnesotans who’ve exhausted their benefits. An estimated 100,000 workers, including those whose federal benefits are set to expire on December 26, will receive 13 additional weeks of coverage.  

The legislation includes $88 million of direct financial support for small businesses that are experiencing economic harm due to the pandemic. Restaurants, bars, gyms, and more are eligible to receive this aid. An additional $14 million will be distributed to movie theaters and convention centers, and $114.8 million will go to counties to provide grants to other impacted businesses. You can find more information here.  

Continue reading “Rep. Patty Acomb (HD44B) Update: December 17, 2020”

McConnell getting much of what he wants in emerging relief deal

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is getting much of what he wants in an emerging coronavirus relief package, after months of digging in his heels against a demand by Democratic leaders to pass a multitrillion-dollar package that would shore up the ailing finances of state and local governments.

The GOP leader isn’t getting liability protection for businesses and other organizations but McConnell himself last week proposed dropping that controversial item along with another large tranche of funding for state and local government. 

State and local funding was a top priority of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Continue reading.

Scoop: Vice President Pence to receive televised vaccine shot

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Vice President Mike Pence plans to receive his coronavirus vaccine shot on camera Friday morning at the White House to build “vaccine confidence” among the American people, according to an administration official with direct knowledge of the plans.

Driving the news: Details are still being worked out, but Pence wants the TV networks to carry the moment live in the morning, the source said, to maximize the audience for the vaccination.

  • The vice president, who has led the White House coronavirus task force, will be joined by second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. Continue reading.

Sweeping COVID-19, spending deal hits speed bumps

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Negotiations over a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill are running into eleventh-hour snags, threatening to push Congress into a rare weekend session. 

Lawmakers had hoped to clinch a sweeping deal, which would also fund the government through Oct. 1, on Wednesday after the top four congressional leaders signaled that they were closing in on an agreement after months of stalemate. 

But instead lawmakers and staff warned that — while they still thought they would get the agreement — the final stages of the talks are moving slowly as they continue to haggle over the details and field requests for changes.  Continue reading.

What you need to know about Minnesota’s COVID-19 restrictions

The governor has implemented everything from mask mandates to caps on gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

Since March, Gov. Tim Walz has issued sweeping executive orders to slow the spread of coronavirus in the state, from business and school closures to a statewide mask mandate required in public indoor spaces and businesses in Minnesota.

The governor has started to slowly ease restrictions on businesses, schools and Minnesotans’ movements during the public health crisis, but he’s not yet ordered a full reopening of the state. (This FAQ was updated Dec. 16.)

What does Walz’s order say?

The governor let his stay-at-home order — which went into effect on March 28 — expire on May 18. That original order directed Minnesotans to stay home except for essential needs and services or if they worked in critical sectors. Continue reading.

‘Sit this one out’: Critics blast Ivanka Trump for claiming ‘lockdowns are not g​rounded in science’

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First Daughter Ivanka Trump, rumored to be exploring a possible entry into electoral politics after her father leaves office, is flexing her MAGA muscles more often these days. While the advisor to the president has generally focused her public statements on sometimes false but always positive framing of the Trump agenda and her perceived accomplishments, on Tuesday she went on the attack.

“These blanket lockdowns are not grounded in science,” tweeted Ivanka Trump, who has a history of ignoring stay-at-home orders herself and is neither a scientist nor a medical expert. “These arbitrary rules imposed by callous politicians are destroying lives. It is just wrong for small business owners to have fight so hard to keep their American dream alive.”

As many were quick to remind her, the “lockdowns” are necessary because President Donald Trump and his administration, including Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior advisor to the president Jared Kushner, refused to take the coronavirus seriously and engaged in a partisan attack on COVID-19 prevention. Continue reading.

Minnesota elementary schools can open January 18 for in-person instruction

The state will leave the decision to reopen to local school districts. 

All elementary schools in Minnesota will be allowed to open for hybrid or in-person instruction as soon as Jan. 18, if they are able to follow a newly expanded list of COVID-19 safety protocols.

The Wednesday announcement from Gov. Tim Walz marks a major shift in the state’s guidelines for public schools during the pandemic, which had previously pushed most districts to distance learning as COVID-19 spread widely. Middle and high schools will still be subject to the state’s original school reopening rules, and many that have moved to online learning will likely have to stay there until local virus cases drop significantly.

Walz called the change for elementary schools a “monumental move” that was prompted by a deepening understanding of where and how the virus is circulating, the ways to minimize its spread — and a growing concern about the academic, social and emotional losses for kids and families when school buildings are closed. New safety rules will include the mandatory mask and face-shield wearing by school staff and the option for staff members to get COVID-19 tests at school every two weeks. Continue reading.

Millions in COVID-19 relief soon headed for Minnesota businesses, workers

First round will go to businesses hurt most by state-mandated closures.

Minnesota’s divided Legislature this week managed something that its national counterpart in Washington, D.C., has yet to do: strike a deal to send relief to businesses and workers hit hardest by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Now comes the hard part.

As soon as Gov. Tim Walz signs the bill, state and local officials must identify and dole out hundreds of millions of dollars to thousands of businesses across the state. They need to extend unemployment insurance to more than 100,000 Minnesotans whose benefits are set to expire after the holidays. And they need to do it as quickly as possible. Continue reading.

 

For Rep. Dean Phillips, COVID-19 relief talks in Washington have been a balancing act

The freshman Democrat has said he’ll withhold his support for Pelosi without a relief package deal. 

Minnesota Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has thrust himself into the ongoing negotiations in Washington over a federal COVID-19 stimulus package, working with a group of lawmakers in both chambers to craft their own plan in the absence of a final deal from leaders.

Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of 50 lawmakers, say they’ve kept momentum going for a deal by proposing alternatives, including a $908 billion package they split into two parts this week to make passage easier in a divided Congress.

But Phillips’ work as part of the group has put the freshman from Minnesota’s suburban Third District in an awkward position. At times he’s had to defend his conservative colleagues in the caucus on national TV, while privately putting the pressure on his own Democratic leadership in the House to strike a deal. Continue reading.

Lie of the Year: Coronavirus downplay and denial

NOTE: Even Minnesota Republicans have been part of this denial of the reality hurting members of over 4,575 Minnesotans’ families. That extends to doctor and Minnesota State Senator Scott Jensen.

A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. So no masks for them. Then they got sick. She died. A college lecturer had trouble refilling her lupus drug after the president promoted it as a treatment for the new disease. A hospital nurse broke down when an ICU patient insisted his illness was nothing worse than the flu, oblivious to the silence in beds next door.   

Lies infected America in 2020. The very worst were not just damaging, but deadly. 

President Donald J. Trump fueled confusion and conspiracies from the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic. He embraced theories that COVID-19 accounted for only a small fraction of the thousands upon thousands of deaths. He undermined public health guidance for wearing masks and cast Dr. Anthony Fauci as an unreliable flip-flopper.  Continue reading.