Last Friday a group of protestors estimated at 800 stood in front of the governor’s mansion in St. Paul and demanded that Gov. Tim Walz re-open the state. They want stores and businesses to reopen so people can go back to work. Many of the protestors carried Donald Trump flags. Indeed, earlier in the day the president had tweeted “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” a day after telling the nation’s governors he was leaving to them the decision to relax precautionary health restrictions and reopen the local economies.

We don’t know what statistics the protestors were looking at, but now is not the time to end the stay home orders designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the number of positive cases reported started rising last week, averaging 132 cases a day since last Wednesday. Even more telling, the three day death toll since Friday has been the deadliest three day stretch since the state recorded its first death on March 21 — 17 deaths on Friday, 10 on Saturday, 13 on Sunday.

Those who argue that the state’s COVID-19 statistics are minimal compared to the real hotspots in the country, like New York, we ask: Why do you think that is? Could it be that the shutdown measures have been working as intended, preventing people from being exposed and infected by the virus?

We certainly do hope the situation improves soon, and the state’s restrictions can be relaxed. We hope the peak is here and we’ll see the numbers decline soon. But until there is more testing available to give us a better idea of where the virus is, the state should continue the restrictions that have been keeping our numbers from skyrocketing.