Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Sunday he will close all K-12 public schools statewide, beginning Wednesday, for eight school days, so schools can prepare for potentially longer closures as the new coronavirus spreads.

Schools are free to close sooner if they want. St. Paul Superintendent Joe Gothard said his district would close to students starting Monday; classes have been canceled since Tuesday for a teacher strike that was resolved Friday.

“Closing schools is never an easy decision, but we need to make sure we have plans in place to educate and feed our kids regardless of what’s to come,” Walz said Sunday, hours before leaders of the state Legislature decided to suspend most official business through mid-April.

The statewide closure will effectively be longer for students in a number of districts, including St. Paul and Minneapolis, whose spring breaks begin at the end of the eight-day closure. Such students would return to class no sooner than Monday, April 6.

While acknowledging the schools decision will have a “magnitude of consequences to change life in Minnesota,” Walz also sought to assure a jittery public and anxious parents that he and his cabinet were navigating as best as anyone.

“We have thought this through, and we have the most comprehensive plan for school closings of any state in the nation,” he said, brandishing a document that officials have been revising for more than a week as the virus spread.

With the extraordinary step, taken under Walz’s emergency powers, Minnesota joins a growing number of states across the nation — and nations around the world — that have closed all schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the efficacy of such measures is debated for a virus that has been known to science a mere four months.

‘PLANNING PERIOD’

Teachers and administrators will still report to work Wednesday and for the duration of the eight school days. Walz said the primary goal of the closure was not an attempt to quash the COVID-19 epidemic — a scientifically dubious effort, given the length of closure and state of the pandemic locally.

The goal, rather, is to give educators a chance to more properly plan for the prospect of closures that could last months as the virus spreads, including e-learning capabilities and ways to provide meals and other services for which schools are relied upon, especially among families with less means.

In addition, Walz said, schools need the break to plan for how to implement social distancing measures when they reopen, including reducing crowding in classrooms, on buses and around lunchtime.

The current plan is for schools to reopen at the end of the closure — or at the end of their spring break — although officials said they will assess the situation daily.

CHILD CARE FOR SOME

Walz also used his power to attempt to reduce the child care problems the closure will create, especially for essential members of society.

Walz ordered schools to provide day care for elementary-age children of “health care professionals, first responders and other emergency workers” during the duration of the closure. Children of teachers are also included.

He also waived certain licensing requirements for day care centers. Officials emphasized that child care centers are unaffected by the school closure order; child care centers should stay open.

In addition, Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker said all school workers should continue to get paid.

“The governor, lieutenant governor and I expect schools to continue paying their hourly workers,” she said, before repeating the sentence again for emphasis.

HOTLINE FOR QUESTIONS

The state’s emergency hotline was being staffed Sunday to answer questions about education or child care issues. The number is 651-297-1304. Hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

MINNESOTA JOINS OTHERS

Worldwide as of Friday, 29 countries, from Norway to Saudi Arabia, have shuttered schools nationwide, affecting nearly 391.5 million students, according to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). That doesn’t include an additional 20 nations, such as the United States, where closings have been localized.

Across the nation as of Saturday evening, at least 57,000 schools were closed or scheduled to close, affecting some 25.8 million students, according to Education Week.

Prominent among other states that have closed schools is neighboring Wisconsin, where Gov. Tony Evers closed all K-12 schools Friday.

But it’s still a minority of states, and debates over whether or not to close the schools have roiled across the nation, forcing educators and elected officials to grasp for the best science while under pressure from an anxious public suddenly replete with armchair epidemiologists.

Like his peers who had not closed schools, Walz’s decision last week to allow schools to stay open prompted calls from numerous quarters to close them, including an online petition, and it’s likely his decision to close them will draw scrutiny as well.

On the one hand is a sense that schools are germ-filled incubators, and allowing children to mingle, exchange microbes and disperse is a glaring contradiction to the state’s decision last week to strongly discourage gatherings of more than 250 and encourage social distancing throughout all other aspects of life, from houses of worship to workplaces. While social distancing was encouraged in schools, Walz and Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm acknowledged that it simply wasn’t feasible in all settings.

On the other hand is evidence suggesting that children are poor spreaders of COVID-19, and closing schools won’t just inconvenience parents, it will threaten the health system, as nurses, doctors, and health care workers will lose their most reliable form of child care and be forced to retreat from the front lines of fighting the virus. But although there’s strong evidence that children are much less likely to develop severe cases of illness, there’s also growing evidence that adults without symptoms are able to spread the virus.

NOT CDC GUIDANCE

Compounding the dilemma for policymakers over school closures had been silence from the federal government on this specific question, leaving superintendents, mayors, and governors to fend for themselves and lean on state and local health officials, who turned to the CDC.

On Friday, the CDC issued the long-sought guidance.

While scientific knowledge of the virus is still evolving — and changing — Minnesota’s decision appears premature under the fresh CDC recommendations.

According to the federal agency, short to medium closures of two to four weeks “do not impact … the curve” of the virus spreading, although they’re always warranted for decontamination if an infected person has been inside. Some experts have suggested that closing schools early in an outbreak can help slow the spread, but only if they remain closed for the duration of the epidemic, which could be five months or longer.

School closings can have an impact in a situation where there is “substantial community spread,” according to the CDC. But Minnesota doesn’t appear to be there yet.

On Sunday, state health officials confirmed the first three cases of community transmission — cases not linked directly to travel or contact with an infected person. However, even though officials acknowledge a shortage of testing has led to not being certain of the extent of the outbreak, the state didn’t appear to have “substantial community spread,” which would include a significant amount of health care workers not reporting to work.

If you do need to close schools when there’s widespread community transmission, it will be long — and still perhaps not the best course, according to the guidance.

“There may be some impact of much longer closures (eight weeks, 20 weeks) further into community spread, but that modeling also shows that other mitigation efforts (e.g., handwashing, home isolation) have more impact on both spread of disease and health care measures,” the guidance reads. “In other countries, those places who closed school (e.g., Hong Kong) have not had more success in reducing spread than those that did not (e.g., Singapore).”

On Sunday, Malcolm emphasized that even though the best epidemiology available on the coronavirus doesn’t suggest closing schools statewide, she supported Walz’s decision because substantial community spread could be on the horizon, and schools will need to be ready for that.

TEACHERS UNION SUPPORTS

Education Minnesota, the group that represents unionized teachers statewide, praised the governor’s decision in a statement Sunday.

A number of lawmakers praised the closure as well, ranging from House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, to a statement of several Republican House members who serve on education committees that said they were “fully supportive.”

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, issued the following statement, which neither criticizes nor praises the decision: “The decision to temporarily close schools was not made lightly, and we are going to keep reevaluating to determine what’s best for Minnesotans. It’s a very fluid and changing situation. People need to be prepared, not panicked, and use their common-sense. The Senate is going to keep working on not only COVID-19 and coronavirus, but other issues as well. Because once this passes, Minnesotans still expect their government to work, to provide support and service, and solve problems.”

LEGISLATURE GOES ‘ON-CALL’

Lawmakers decided to essentially suspend all non-COVID-19-related official business through April 14. Under an agreement by the four leaders of both parties in the House and Senate, staff will work from home, and no committee meetings or floor sessions will happen without their agreement, making the bodies effectively “on-call,” according to a joint statement.

Constituents are encouraged to contact their elected officials remotely.