Lawmakers meet as Minnesota's COVID-19 cases top 1,000
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota's virus infection count surpassed 1,000 Tuesday, as lawmakers moved closer to passing legislation to ensure first responders and health care workers on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19 qualify for workers compensation, even if they can't prove they caught the virus in the line of duty.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported 83 new cases Tuesday, taking the state's total to 1,069. It reported four new deaths, for a total of 34. The department said 120 patients were hospitalized as of Tuesday, an increase of five, while 64 were in intensive care, up seven since Monday.
Health officials say 549 patients have recovered and no longer need to be isolated, but caution that the true number of infections is likely much higher because not everyone qualifies for testing.
Minnesota's workers compensation laws normally require an employee to prove they got sick or were injured on the job. The legislation that's expected to be passed in the House and Senate Tuesday changes that requirement for first responders and health care workers.
“It will be very difficult for some of our first responders to be able to establish exactly how they got COVID-19, but we know they're at much higher risk for contracting this disease because of the work that they're doing for us,” Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman said on a conference call with reporters. "They are putting themselves on the line out there. They risk their own safety for us, day in and day out."
Under the new rules, a doctor's diagnosis of COVID-19 without a test to confirm it would be acceptable.
“People on the front lines in this pandemic need to have the support of all of us," Democratic House Majority Ryan Winkler said. “... We need to make sure that as they go into harm's way, as they step in to help people without knowing if they have COVID-19 or any other health condition, that we are there to support them."
Hortman and Winkler acknowledged that changing the rules is likely to impose new costs on the workers compensation system, that they don't know how many claims will be filed, and that lawmakers have yet to figure how how they'll pay for it. They're hoping to use some of the $2.1 billion that Minnesota is getting in federal stimulus money to cover part of the new costs.
The House and Senate will debate and vote using similar social distancing rules as when they met March 26 to pass a $330 million COVID-19 relief package. The Legislature is next scheduled to meet April 14.