As you may have heard.  Minnesota goes into "shelter in place" starting tomorrow, March 27th to April 10th.  #stayhomemn campaign is intended to help slow the spread of coronavirus in the state, but what does a "lockdown" or "shelter in place" really mean?

Lockdown has been quite the discussion on social media and has certainly spread some fear in people's lives.  Some of it justified and some of it not.  Let's examine what a North Dakota "lockdown" or "shelter in place" would more than likely be like.

According to KARE 11 in Minneapolis, you will still be allowed to leave the house for things like groceries, gas or convenient stores, to see your doctor, go to the pharmacy, and care for family members.  The order still allows people to leave the house for things like groceries, gas, emergency medical services or supplies and caring for family member.

In the same KARE 11 article people who are considered "essential workers"  would be considered excluded from the "shelter in place" order and would be allowed to go to work.  That would would include law enforcement, first responders, health care workers, some child care facilities, food production, city workers, utilities, the news media (including us at Townsquare Media) truck drivers, hardware stores and critical manufacturing.  There would no doubt be other jobs that would be considered "essential" and would be added as well.  Other workplaces would be asked to work from home, which many of you are doing already.

How about going outside?  The order in other states still allows people to get outside for “walking, hiking, running & biking."  Hunting and fishing is a state by state case.  For example and according to the Grand Forks Herald, a couple of counties in Minnesota have closed down the Rainy River boat ramps.  There is also some concern in the fishing community that Minnesota may delay the fishing opener.  As of right now fishing and hunting is allowed with the appropriate social distancing in most states.  However, certain aspects of those seasons are starting to close.  For example, some states are not allowing Non-Residents to hunt or fish.  This is something that could be expanded as we continue to fight COVID-19.

Liquor stores have been allowed to stay open in other states.  No need to hoard Busch Light quite yet.

When it comes to transportation, roads will remain open, but within the legal limits of the order issued.  Airports are critical in nature for transportation and are open for now with very limited flights in and out of Bismarck.

Would "shelter in place" orders be enforced?  So, far the United States has not been very strict with these order but that could be changing.

According to Citypages,  "a willful violation of the order in Minnesota comes with the penalties of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail or up to $1,000 in fines."  More often than not, you would think these would be warnings to begin with.

So that's "shelter in place or "lockdown" in a nut-shell.  Hopefully, not as scary as it sounds.

 

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