Minnesota is showing signs of progress in the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting its lowest daily counts of deaths and hospitalizations since April on Monday, at a time when more than 20 other states are reporting rising case counts.
"We want to celebrate every day that those numbers are low," said Kris Ehresmann, state infectious disease director.
But Minnesota has a Wisconsin problem.
While both neighbor states show declining growth in COVID-19 cases and deaths, Minnesota has reported 1,304 deaths so far in the pandemic compared with Wisconsin's 694. And Wisconsin achieved its progress despite being more populous and having its stay-at-home order lifted prematurely on May 13 via a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling.
The variation has grown from a statistical curiosity to a source of political tension that could upend Gov. Tim Walz's pandemic response, which included a 51-day stay-at-home order followed by a gradual reopening of businesses and activities. Late last week, Republican lawmakers used the variation to oppose an extension of peacetime emergency powers giving the governor sweeping authority over the state's response.
"It is difficult to make that case when Wisconsin has been doing fine without emergency powers for 4 weeks," said Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, in a tweet.
Minnesota health officials have reached out to their cross-border counterparts to learn what has worked, but state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said on Monday that it is too simplistic to use the Minnesota-Wisconsin comparison as a referendum on whether stay-at-home orders are worth the economic pains they cause.
"Even as the state restrictions [in Wisconsin] were relaxed, the more significant population centers, the cities, kept restrictions in place," she said. "So it wasn't like a complete, all-at-one-time reopening for the most part."