Thanksgiving, Black Friday 2020: MN Coronavirus Guide

TWIN CITIES, MN — Minnesota state health officials are asking residents to celebrate Thanksgiving and Black Friday safely by choosing "lower-risk activities" this holiday season.

Lower-risk activities include:

• Hosting a small dinner with the people who live with you
• Doing a virtual dinner and sharing recipes with your friends and family
• Preparing traditional family recipes and deliver them in a way that doesn't involve direct contact for people who are high-risk

Here's what the Minnesota Department of Health calls "medium-risk" activities:

• A small outdoor dinner with family and friends who live in your neighborhood
• Flag football game or other sports with community members

Here are "high risk" activities:

• Attending crowded races or parades
• Attending large indoor gatherings with people you don't live with

For Black Friday, which is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season:

• Health officials recommend shopping online. Many retailers, including Amazon and Target, feature Black Friday deals on their websites.
• Shopping in crowded stores — especially just on or after Thanksgiving — is a "high risk" activity

In general, Minnesotans are asked to:

• Wear face coverings at indoor and outdoor gatherings if any of the guests do not live with you.
• Stay 6 feet away from others, whenever possible.

Minnesota's New Coronavirus Restrictions

Starting Friday, all Minnesota bars and restaurants must end dine-in service at 10 p.m. and cannot reopen until 4 a.m.

• "Indoor capacity will be capped at 150 people, and may not exceed 50 percent of an establishment's total capacity."

• "Bar counter service will be closed for seating and service in all establishments besides those that only have counter service."

• "In counter-service only establishments, patrons can line up with masks and then return to their table. These restrictions follow research that shows these environments become more risky later in the evening."

Also starting Friday, there will be a 10-person limit for indoor and outdoor gatherings. All social gatherings must be limited to members of three households or less.

• "Capacity limits for receptions related to weddings, funerals, and similar events will be instituted through a phased approach, but will eventually lead to a 25-person cap. In addition, such receptions and similar events may not take place between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m."
• "All current restrictions also remain in effect. Since data has not shown a connection between religious services and the recent increase in outbreaks, there will be no change to religious services."

Walz's Tuesday announcement comes after a week of record-setting highs in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID-19. On Tuesday, more than 4,900 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Minnesota, along with 23 new deaths.

Minnesota's neighboring states have the highest infection rates in the U.S., and Minnesota's own case positivity rate is above 10 percent. That is double the level at which COVID-19 spread is considered controllable, according to state officials.