Sophia Walsh, Dept of Health. Local 2001

At the Department of Health (MDH), I help people who work in restaurants and hotels understand the changing rules and how to keep their businesses open while continuing to serve the public safely during the pandemic. There is fear among owners but the general feeling I’ve been getting from the industry is they just want to do it right.

There has been renewed interest in our newsletters because the information changes so quickly. The information coming from scientists and other experts can be difficult for the general public to read, so we use that information to create our own MDH fact sheets using plain language, which restaurants and hotels have appreciated.

It is striking how people are taking in information and supporting what Gov. Walz is doing. We are able to deal with this situation so well because Minnesota has a robust public health system and we have been preparing to be able to respond quickly to a major event. MDH has a good relationship with the governor who listens to what we say. If we didn’t have these built up before COVID-19, Minnesota wouldn’t be as well positioned to deal with this pandemic as we are now.