I believe that our current wave of the epidemic in Minnesota peaked around the time Governor Walz imposed the current shutdown regime on November 18 in Executive Order 20-99. Kevin Roche set forth his argument to this effect in the Star Tribune column “COVID’s fall surge peaked before Walz order.” The shutdown regime has imposed great harm on many businesses throughout the state. Contrary to the assertions of state authorities, there has been no post-Thanksgiving surge in cases.
The irrationality is obvious and the pain is immense. Last week some 100 restaurants throughout the state announced that they would open later this week regardless of Governor Walz’s determination whether or not to continue the shutdown regime in its current form. See, for example, MplsStPaul’s “Restaurants Plan to Defy Orders and Open Up Next Week.”
Walz’s determination was first set for this past Friday, then deferred to Monday, and is now moved to tomorrow. His subjects await word from on high.
The uncertainty hung over yesterday’s Minnesota Department of Health press briefing (audio below). The authorities insist that the current situation continues to place us at “high risk” and in “a precarious state.” Yet the panoply of certain harms inflicted by the shutdown regime go unmentioned. Walz has staged no dog and pony show featuring its victims. Monarchical rule has diminished respect for the “law” expressed in edicts while the press continues its loyal service to the regime.
