With the backdrop of eight additional deaths, bringing the state\u2019s total to 87, Gov. Tim Walz said he is encouraged that Minnesota is on the path to defeating the deadly COVID-19 virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But during his daily 2 p.m. press briefing Walz cautioned that the key to getting the state\u2019s residents back to normal is testing \u2013 something he said is severely lacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTesting is a major failure in this entire approach across the country,\u201d said Walz, who said he would like to be able to test 5,000 residents daily, but a slow response from the federal government is hampering that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And with testing an issue Minnesotans continue to suffer financially. Unemployment insurance claims file in by the thousands in a state where prior to the COVID-19 crisis the unemployment rate was among the lowest in the nation. Some relief on that front, DEED Commissioner Joe Kelly announced a 13-week extension to those who have exhausted or are near exhausting their unemployment benefits \u2013 a number that totals nearly 8,000 people according to the commissioner. Kelly also encouraged self-employed workers to file for benefits in anticipation of a measure passing that allows for self-employed workers to receive unemployment benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walz also reminded those who qualify that enrollment for MNsure has been extended until April 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In normal years, today would be the deadline to file state and federal taxes, but that deadline has been extended to July 15. For those looking for their $1,200 COVID-19 relief payments they are encouraged to file their 2019 taxes as soon as possible. For those who have not filed for 2019 payments will be based off bank information the IRS has on file for filer\u2019s 2018 income taxes. If someone did not file in 2018 or 2019, they can go to www.irs.gov\/coronavirus\/economic-impact-payments<\/a> to enroll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As of today, Minnesota has recorded 1,809 COVID-19 cases. Of those, 197 remain hospitalized with 93 in intensive care. All of yesterday\u2019s eight deaths came from long-term care facilities in the state. To date, 940 of the recorded Minnesotans to contract the deadly virus have recovered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the hour-long call with reporters Walz praised the work of a team at the University of Minnesota that created an FDA-approved desktop ventilator that can be used to assist critically ill patients who cannot breathe on their own. Walz said the team is also making its design available for use by other developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you hear sirens tomorrow afternoon\/evening (Thursday) don\u2019t be alarmed. The state is conducting a routine monthly test of its emergency broadcasting system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the backdrop of eight additional deaths, bringing the state\u2019s total to 87, Gov. Tim Walz said he is encouraged that Minnesota is on the path to defeating the deadly COVID-19 virus. But during his daily 2 p.m. press briefing Walz cautioned that the key to getting the state\u2019s residents back to normal is testing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2307,29,169],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-joe-kelly","tag-minnesota","tag-tim-walz","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}