(ST. PAUL, MN) – Governor Walz announced Wednesday that he will be loosening the restrictions he put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Although this is a step in the right direction, the Governor needs to quickly make moves to bring normalcy back to Minnesota.

“The Governor does not have the constitutional authority to repeatedly shut down the lives of Minnesotans with no respect for the legislative process, and this has gone on for far too long,” Senator Andrew Mathews (R-Milaca) remarked following Governor Walz’s announcement. “Even with loosening restrictions, the Governor is retaining his unilateral power so he can do this all over again whenever he feels like it.  This is unacceptable and unconstitutional.”

The data clearly shows that the restrictions do not have the impact on the numbers and cases that the administration continues to claim that it does.  The roll-out of vaccines and who is prioritized needs to be looked at and sped up immediately. If we are to fight in this pandemic, we need to get the vaccines (voluntary, never mandatory) to those who need it most as soon as possible. When you compare Minnesota to other states with looser policies, it is clear that the intense restrictions in our state does not give us a quicker path to recovery.

Senator Mathews is happy to see some movement in the right direction but is looking forward to more change in the future.