Friday, April 24
The state has identified more than 3,180 cases of COVID-19 as of today, with 1,594 of these patients no longer required to be isolated. 221 deaths have been reported. For more information on the current situation, visit the Minnesota Department of Health website.
At the bottom of this email, you will find Met Council workforce statistics related to COVID-19 leave that have been reported to the Employee Resource Center.
Clarification on school closure leave
In his press conference today, Governor Tim Walz extended distance learning through the rest of the 2019-2020 school calendar year. With this extension, the state continues to pursue opportunities to expand technology for students, provide guidance for teachers on how to best connect with students, and support families.
We know this impacts many of our employees who have children at home, and we want to clarify that the school closure leave of our Paid COVID-19 Leave policy (PDF) will remain available through the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
As for the summer period, we know many of the usual child care and programming options over the summer will be canceled, reduced, or unavailable for families with at-risk family members at home, and we'll continue to align with the state's guidance as the situation evolves.
Please reach out to your manager or the Employee Resource Center (EmployeeResourceCenter@metc.state.mn.us) if you have questions about the leave policy.
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Daily updates posted at Metro Transit work sites
Metro Transit managers and supervisors: Please remember to download and post the latest COVID-19 update at your work site. For more information, contact Drew Kerr at drew.kerr@metrotransit.org.
There is not a new Metro Transit Daily COVID-19 Update today (April 24). Check back Monday for updates.
New COVID-19 testing website from the state, built by Met Council
As part of the state’s effort to provide widespread, rapid COVID-19 testing, Governor Walz today unveiled a new website to help Minnesotans find a testing location within their community: mn.gov/covid19/for-minnesotans/if-sick. We're especially proud of this website, as it was built primarily by Met Council staff!
This testing collaborative now includes 127 clinics and health care facilities across the state. The new COVID-19 website provides easy access to Minnesotans’ closest testing site, offers general information related to the COVID-19 outbreak, and provides an interactive screening tool to help Minnesotans determine if they need a test. This interactive testing site allows the state to coordinate with local public health and tribal organizations that have strong connections to the communities they serve.
While the Met Council is not a state agency, we are partnering very closely with the Governor, Minnesota Department of Health, and other state agencies to help our region and our state deal with this crisis. We are proud to be an integral part of these efforts, and we want to extend a big thank you to the talented team from Information Services (GIS and Enterprise Technical Services) and Communications for their hard and swift work to build and publish this website! It took a lot of ingenuity to get this website launched, and it is an incredible demonstration of how the Met Council as an organization is adapting its work to meet the needs of our communities.
As Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm said today about this effort, “As we strive to reach our goal of testing up to 20,000 people per day, we must do everything we can to expand access points across the state. This work is literally saving lives.”
On April 22, Governor Walz, representatives of the state’s health care delivery systems, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of Minnesota announced a breakthrough for rapid, widespread testing of COVID-19 in Minnesota to test all symptomatic people, isolate confirmed cases, and expand public health surveillance tools. By building capacity to test as many as 20,000 Minnesotans per day, this increased testing and tracing will support the state’s response to the pandemic and the safe re-opening of society.
Check the MetNet page, FAQs
For the most current information related to the COVID-19 outbreak, visit the MetNet page and be sure to review the FAQs for staff and managers. They are updated as we have new information to communicate.
If you have questions, talk to your manager or supervisor or submit a question or concern in the online COVID-19 form.
Check out the latest issue of Transit Insights, which was published today.
For those who cannot easily access MetNet and/or would like a printable PDF of the FAQs, here are the most recent versions of these pages:
Met Council workforce statistics
The following statistics related to COVID-19 leave have been reported to the Employee Resource Center. Managers: Remember to report any absences that are related to COVID-19 so your staff can be counted and you can be sure their leave is being handled correctly.
The data in these tables is based on reports from managers and reflects the number of employees out on COVID-19 leave this morning. Employees in the “symptoms” category have not been tested or are awaiting test results and have symptoms that are almost certainly related to COVID-19.
Employees in the “isolation” category have been approved for COVID-19 leave to stay home and avoid interactions with other people because of underlying health conditions, they may have some symptoms and want to take extra precautions, or they may have been exposed to a person who is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Given that testing is not widely available, they may not be able to confirm whether their symptoms are related to COVID-19, but they are isolating themselves as a preventive measure, and managers are required to follow up on a regular basis with those employees to ensure they are following the leave procedure.
Employees on COVID-19 leave and those who have returned from leave (April 24):
Reasons for employees taking paid COVID-19 leave (April 24):
 
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