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DFL Party Blasts Senate GOP for Voting to End State of Emergency

07/13/2020

Today, Minnesota Senate Republicans voted to end the state of emergency that Minnesota is using to combat COVID-19. Prior to that vote, Senator Paul Gazelka declared that “the emergency part of this pandemic is over.”

This comes despite the fact that over 3.3 million Americans, or 1 in every 100 Americans, has tested positive for COVID-19, and despite the fact that the United States is regularly breaking records for the number of positive cases that come in every day. Amidst this surge, the COVID-19 death rate has started to increase again after months of slowly declining.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“Republican Senator Paul Gazelka was dead wrong when he said the COVID-19 emergency is over and Minnesota Republicans were remarkably irresponsible when they voted to end Minnesota’s State of Emergency and drop our guard against this deadly pandemic.

“States across America that refused to take COVID-19 seriously are seeing a massive resurgence in cases, and Minnesota would almost certainly be among them if Republicans got their way. The truth is, Republicans are dangerously disconnected from reality when it comes to the global pandemic we are facing.”