Governor Walz Calling Special Session for Thursday

ST. PAUL -- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has announced he'll convene another special session of the Minnesota Legislature beginning Thursday to extend his peacetime emergency powers.

Walz says, "this is a dangerous phase of this pandemic. We're in the midst of a surge in case positivity and hospitalizations".

The special session comes after a week of record-setting highs in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID-19. Minnesota's neighboring states have the highest infection rates in the nation. Minnesota's positivity rate is above 10 percent.

The peacetime emergency is consistent with the emergencies in effect in 48 other states.