Gov. Walz eases COVID-19 restrictions

"For our local businesses the pandemic has been a really long road and it's finally nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel."

MINNESOTA (KVRR)  -A decrease in case numbers and increase in vaccinations is leading Governor Tim Walz to update Minnesota’s COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Governor Tim Walz is giving Minnesotans a sigh of relief as he further eases restrictions for the state to reach normalcy a year after the pandemic began.

“It was a year ago today that we declared a state of emergency as we were staring down the largest and the most threatening public health crisis that our nation had seen in a century. We made progress Minnesota. Those hard decisions that have been painful, those missed family gatherings, those businesses that were asked to close to protect health, it’s made a difference,”  Walz said.

With that progress, next week will look a whole lot different for businesses in the area.

“Starting next Monday many of the existing venues who are open will just have the ability to open further. So restaurants up to 75 percent, gyms up to 50 percent, salons, no capacity restrictions just keep that social distancing. Again, mask worn the entire time, but we want to make sure that these existing venues can immediately get to accepting more customers,” Dept. of Employment & Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said.

Some say it’s what businesses have been waiting for as they have been some of the most affected throughout the pandemic.

“For our local businesses the pandemic has been a really long road and it’s finally nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel,” Economic Development Program Administrator, Moorhead Amy Thorpe said.

Governor Walz says although there’s been improvements, we’re not at the end zone just yet.

“The adjustments we’re going to make are going to move that thing back toward normal a little bit. We’re not tuning to 11, we’re turning the dial up though to a point where normalcy is on the horizon and if this continues, we will continue to turn that dial because at that point in time we’ll know that we’ve got the upper hand and we’re going to keep the upper hand and this thing is coming to an end,” Walz said.

Walz says it will be weeks, not months until everyone in Minnesota can receive their vaccines.