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Gov. Tim Walz is announcing a further loosening of restrictions on businesses and other aspects of society during the coronavirus pandemic. Watch the news conference happening now, where he’ll announce next steps in his COVID-19 response strategy.

Among the changes he’s unveiling:

• Indoor restaurant and bar service and personal services can open at 50 percent capacity with a 250-person limit
• Places of worship can also hold services at 50 percent capacity with a 250-person limit
• Entertainment venues can open 25 percent capacity with a 250-person limit

The changes are set to take effect on Wednesday.

Pools, gyms, yoga studios and other such operations will also be allowed to reopen at reduced capacity. The governor will also provide guidance on youth sports/local recreational leagues.

“We believe we should be able to handle this,” Walz told reporters, but he cautioned the state needed to remain vigilant against the spread of the disease: “We can’t get complacent. We can’t get lazy.”

Earlier this week, restaurants were allowed to resume table service but only at reduced capacity and for outdoor diners. Hair salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors and other personal services businesses also reopened for limited appointments.

In recent weeks, religious institutions received permission to resume worship services, weddings and funerals to small audiences. The next phase could expand the ability of those entities and others to serve more people in more settings.

Youth sports leagues were also awaiting word on when they could start games. Some resumed practices with social distancing protocols in anticipation of getting back on the field for competition.

Officials continued their plea to Minnesotans to continue staying 6 feet apart, wear masks and stay home if you feel ill.

“We are not going back to normal,”cautioned Steve Grove, commissioner of employment and economic development. “We’re continuing to ask for personal responsibility in the next phase.”

Death toll rises

Walz’s update comes as Minnesota’s death toll in the COVID-19 pandemic continued its grim ascent Friday. The Health Department reported 33 more deaths, bringing the total to 1,148.

The total number of people currently hospitalized came in at 478. However, the number of people currently in intensive care (220) fell significantly from the prior day and is at its lowest point in two weeks, a positive sign on a closely watched measure of the state’s ability to handle the disease.

‘Need your help’

Steve Grove, the commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development, heard concerns Friday from lawmakers of both parties about economic despair in their communities from restaurant closures to business loans that will come due.

“We need your help,” Rep. Dave Lislegard, DFL-Aurora, pleaded with Grove, voicing criticism about outdoor seating as the only option for restaurants struggling to get by.

Patrick and Alissa Horan, who own the Sawmill Saloon and Restaurant in Lislegard’s district, said they had to put in a $20,000 temporary deck to prepare for that. But they said it’s not a sustainable business model, with sales down 90 percent since the March closures.

“I know the restaurant and bar industry has been absolutely brutalized,” Alissa Horan said. “Up here, we are ready to open.”

Grove assured lawmakers the governor was moving toward relaxing restrictions in a way that will guard against coronavirus flare-ups.“We know that without moving into phase three, we will have an increasing number of businesses that will cease to exist and not have the jobs that are there for workers,” Grove said.

Rep. Tony Juergens, R-Cottage Grove, said gyms are at risk of going under unless they can let people back in, even with reduced capacity. Wedding venues and caterers in his district have seen a season of business evaporate, he said.

“Their inventory is available dates,” Juergens said. “And if a bride pushes her wedding until next year, that’s inventory the venue can’t sell. It’s lost.”

Grove said the fallout “is real and it is painful,” but he disagreed that the public health decisions that sparked the closures have been flawed.

He said the outbreak would have been worse without them and the road back must be carefully plotted out to bolster confidence “so that customers actually show up and that we don’t see hot spots or spikes that force us to shut things back down. That would be even more devastating for our economy.”

Community spread remains worrisome

Health officials remain concerned that mass demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody will cause a spike in cases. They have urged anyone who participated in a protest to seek a test.

Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says her department has made clear to providers around the state that people involved in demonstrations or any following cleanup efforts should be tested for COVID-19 — even if they have no symptoms.

She urged people to get tested right away if they have symptoms. If they don’t, she said, they should wait five to seven days after they participated in a protest or cleanup effort to get tested.

And if their test result is negative, but they suspect they were exposed, Malcolm encouraged people to get retested around 12 days after they think they were exposed.

Malcolm added that the state should start to see the impact of the state’s efforts to reopen in about a week.

The fact that people without symptoms of the illness can still be spreading the virus continues to be among the biggest challenges, said Kris Ehresmann, the state’s infectious disease director.

“There is a big role for asymptomatic transmission,” and it’s hard to identify who those people are, she said.

Meatpacking hot spots remain

Many of the outbreaks outside the Twin Cities metro area are focused around meatpacking plants. Officials have intensified testing in those hot spots, uncovering more infections.

In southwestern Minnesota’s Nobles County, where an outbreak hit Worthington’s massive JBS pork plant, about 1 in 15 people have tested positive for COVID-19. In mid-April, there were just a handful of cases. By Friday, there were 1,577 confirmed cases, although the numbers are rising at a much slower rate than in previous weeks.

The JBS plant shut on April 20 but has since partially reopenedwith expanded hygiene and health monitoring measures.

Similar problems have been reported in Stearns County, where COVID-19 cases tied to two packing plants — Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Cold Spring and Jennie-O Turkey in Melrose — skyrocketed in May.

An undisclosed number of workers at both plants have tested positive for the virus. There were about 55 confirmed cases in Stearns County in early May. By Friday, confirmed cases were at 2,056 with 14 deaths.

Kandiyohi County in west-central Minnesota is also seeing cases continue to climb more than a month after officials with the Jennie-O turkey processing plant there said some employees had tested positive for the coronavirus. The county had confirmed three COVID-19 cases then.

On Friday, the Health Department reported 514 people have now tested positive in the county.

While the counts in those counties are high relative to their population, officials say the growth in new cases in those areas appears to be stabilizing.

Mower County in southern Minnesota, another county with a large meatpacking presence, is becoming a hot spot.

Mower County has jumped the past few weeks, reporting a total of 446 positive COVID-19 cases now with two deaths. The Rochester Post-Bulletin reports two meat plants in Austin are seeing COVID-19 cases rise rapidly.