Minnesota’s first case of COVID-19 was reported on March 6, 2020.
By the time Gov. Tim Walz’s “Stay at Home” order took effect three weeks later, life in the state had already become nearly unrecognizable.
City streets were eerily quiet, thousands of desks at schools and offices sat empty, and grocery store shelves were picked clean of many essential items.
We now know the pandemic would kill more than 15,000 Minnesotans — and open deep divisions over how it was handled by public officials — before ultimately subsiding. But those three weeks were full of uncertainty as Minnesotans adjusted to what was often called our “new normal.”
And although it was only five years ago, it’s easy to forget just how much happened in that short window.
“The past few weeks have felt like a month long,” one Osseo teacher said at the time, talking to the Pioneer Press about distance learning. “With directions constantly changing, it has been hard to keep my head above water.”
The pages of the Pioneer Press — both online and in print — show how Minnesotans were buffeted daily by new developments in the pandemic’s progress and the state’s response.
Looming crisis
An airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 21, 2020. (Dake Kang / Associated Press)
It was late January 2020 when the Pioneer Press first published Associated Press reports about the outbreak of a “deadly new virus” in the area around Wuhan, China. But these early stories rarely made it onto the homepage of our website and were often tucked inside the newspaper.
That changed in February as COVID-19 swept the globe, prompting lockdowns in stricken cities and quarantines for exposed travelers.
The emerging pandemic competed for readers’ attention that month with the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, the Minnesota legislative session and the Democratic presidential primary — which at that time still included U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
But the virus always loomed in the background. Among the most-read articles on the Pioneer Press website that month was a wire story that asked: “Can I get coronavirus from a package delivered from China?”
Trump tried to tamp down virus fears at a press conference on Feb. 26, calling the risk to the U.S. “very low.” But Minnesota officials had already begun preparing for the likelihood that COVID-19 would reach the state.
That same day, Kristen Ehresmann, director of the Infectious Disease, Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division at the state Department of Health, reported that 100 Minnesotans had already quarantined themselves after a possible exposure to the virus — though none had tested positive.
“It is very likely that we will have transmission in Minnesota that will affect your daily life,” she said. “We don’t want people to be surprised by that.”
It was then that coronavirus coverage began to dominate headlines. The first COVID-19 death in the U.S. was reported two days later.
Week 1: ‘State has 1st new virus case’
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm discusses the state’s first case of COVID-19 at a news conference on March 6, 2020, at the State Capitol in St. Paul. Gov. Tim Walz, left, looks on. (Dave Orrick / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota officials held a Friday afternoon press conference to announce the state’s first case of COVID-19 on March 6.
The patient was an elderly Ramsey County resident who likely caught the virus aboard a cruise ship in February. By the time their case — which didn’t require hospitalization — was reported to the state, more than 100,000 people had been diagnosed worldwide and about 3,400 had died.
Twin Cities residents had already begun to stock their “pandemic pantries,” causing shortages in local stores of everything from hand sanitizer to long-grain rice — and, of course, toilet paper. But life didn’t immediately grind to a halt.
The state boys hockey tournament continued as scheduled at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul that weekend — albeit with the prominent addition of hand-washing stations. Across the river, the Minneapolis Auto Show kicked off with similar precautions.
Things began to change the following week as case counts in Minnesota and across the country steadily ticked up. The state’s nursing homes barred visitors, St. Paul canceled its popular St. Patrick’s Day parade, the auto show in Minneapolis was cut short and Walz signed a $21 million COVID-19 response bill.
Meanwhile, the stock market tanked, Trump limited travel from pandemic hotspots overseas and the NBA suspended its season.
On Thursday, the Pioneer Press published a running list online of school and event cancellations in the metro that seemed to grow by the hour.
Week 2: State of emergency
Carrie Mortrud demonstrates the use of an N-95 respirator at a news conference organized by the Minnesota Nurses Association in St. Paul on March 18, 2020. Nurses from various hospitals spoke of their fears that their respective hospitals were unprepared and unequipped to protect nurses and other health care workers from a worsening situation of infectious COVID-19 patients. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)
Walz declared a peacetime state of emergency on Friday — one week after Minnesota’s first case was reported — and began rolling out measures intended to slow the virus’ spread.
In addition to calling for social distancing at workplaces and in social settings, the governor “strongly” encouraged Minnesotans to avoid gatherings of 250 people or more.
Restaurants had already begun spacing their tables six feet apart to comply with recommendations from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With panic buying reaching a fever pitch, stores tried to stretch their inventories by limiting how much shoppers could buy of certain items, such as bottled water or canned food.
At an Aldi in Roseville that Friday, Pioneer Press reporter Nick Ferraro overheard an employee “telling a customer not to expect more toilet paper on the shelves ‘in the foreseeable future,’ ” he wrote.
Over the weekend, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter ordered the closure of all city facilities, including libraries, recreation centers and the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.
Metro Transit suspended overnight service on its buses and trains that Monday, asking riders to restrict their use to “essential travel only.”
On Tuesday, Walz used his emergency powers to close bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters and a host of other businesses where people might congregate. Grocery stores and pharmacies were among the few allowed to remain open. By Wednesday, all the schools in the state were closed.
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans flooded the state unemployment office with applications almost immediately.
Week 3: ‘Stay at Home’
Mickey’s Diner, lit up but sans customers, is seen in downtown St. Paul on Saturday, March 21, 2020. The restaurant closed it doors temporarily after Gov. Tim Walz’s executive order requiring all Minnesota restaurants and bars to close to the public — delivery and takeout options were still allowed. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesotans learned on Saturday that a Ramsey County resident in their 80s had become the first person in the state to die of COVID-19.
“We’ve certainly all been watching the numbers rise, the numbers of cases and the numbers of deaths, in other countries and other states,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said. “This strikes closer to home and closer to heart.”
That same day, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s brother, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, died of the virus in Tennessee.
With the news turning increasingly grim, many Twin Cities residents found purpose in fighting back against the pandemic.
Local sewers put their needles and bobbins to work making masks — which were in desperately short supply among health care professionals. Over the weekend, between 30,000 and 35,000 masks were dropped off with the Minnesota Nurses Association.
Local businesses also pitched in. WSI Manufacturing in Eagan retooled its factory to make masks instead of sportswear, while local distilleries started filling bottles with hand sanitizer instead of booze.
“It’s not at the same level as gearing up for wartime back in the ’30s or ’40s, but you kind of feel that camaraderie … and our people and our country are coming together,” WSI CEO Joel Wiens told the Pioneer Press.
The homepage of the Pioneer Press website as it appeared on the afternoon of March 25,2020. (Courtesy of the Internet Archive)
Minnesotans had already begun adapting to spending more time at home. “Virtual happy hours” were a safe and easy way to keep up with friends, while ordering takeout from a shuttered restaurant was a delicious way to support a local business.
As the state’s case count approached 300 on Wednesday, Walz “asked Minnesotans to make the most profound sacrifices yet in the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic,” the Pioneer Press reported.
In addition to his previously announced restrictions, the governor’s new “Stay at Home” order directed all non-essential businesses to shut down for at least two weeks. Anyone who could do their job from home was required to do so.
Walz’s administration estimated the order would cause 28 percent of the state’s workforce to be unemployed.
The order would take effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday — just 21 days since the state announced its first COVID-19 case.
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