Gov. Walz Hosts COVID Roundtable with St. Louis County Public Health Official
ST. PAUL, Minn.– Governor waltz held a roundtable in St. Paul today, bringing local officials together to talk about the state’s fight against COVID-19. That conversation included one health expert from St. Louis County.
St. Louis County Public Health Division Director Amy Westbrook was down in St. Paul Wednesday afternoon to meet with Governor Tim Walz for a roundtable discussion to talk about COVID-19’s impact across the state.
Westbrook, along with other health experts and those personally impacted by COVID-19, shared their experiences.
Westbrook addressed some of the issues facing the county like the rise in cases. A big reason why she says is because of community transmission.
“We’ve seen just about 50 percent of our cases where probably close to 1,300-1,400 cases now in St. Louis County,” said Westbrook. “And about half of those have been reported in September because of our increase in community transmission.”
A big reason why, says Westbrook, is people are being less cautious with social distancing and other health guidelines. One example is an increase in big gatherings, the most notable being the President’s rally last week.
“We want people to have that social interaction but we certainly want people to do it safely,” said Westbrook.
Other topics mentioned by Westbrook include meeting the needs of an area as vast large St. Louis County.
She also mentioned the progress of the COVID-19 saliva testing site down at The DECC. The site has been testing around 400-500 people every day for free.
Governor Walz again urged Minnesotans to follow health guidelines. Saying that following them and getting as much information as possible from places like the saliva testing site will help guide future action from the state.
“The virus dictates when we’re going to do this and our response to the virus is going to dictate how quickly that gets done so one of the decisions I have to make is we’re trying to strike that proper balance,” said Walz.
The governor also announced on Wednesday that he will be extending his peacetime emergency powers when the legislature returns next week for another special session.
