Thanks to the delta variant, the number of COVID-19 cases is creeping back up in Minnesota, as it is across the country. This comes at a time after the Minnesota emergency regulations were lifted and the governor’s emergency powers have expired. But we shouldn’t need a return to the emergency powers, mask mandates and shutdown orders that we went through last year.

The situation has changed. With the rate of vaccinations we have in Minnesota, there is a level of protection we didn’t have last year. We hope the rate of vaccinations will pick up as the number of COVID cases rise. Most of those who are newly infected and hospitalized are among the unvaccinated. That protection remains important.

We shouldn’t need the governor telling us when and where to wear masks. We should have a good idea by now of how to protect ourselves. We should respect the wishes of businesses and institutions that may require customers and employees to wear masks. They are taking these steps to keep their workers and their customers safe.

State experts are recommending that we wear masks in high-risk situations. We know local schools are recommending, but not requiring students to wear masks, and that students who are eligible for vaccinations get them. These are common sense recommendations designed to keep the disease from spreading, not to infringe on freedoms and personal liberties. We hope families will see the wisdom in this.

We should be wary and careful about our health, as we were a year ago. We should continue to wash hands, sanitize our workplaces, and do all the common-sense things we have been doing. We shouldn’t need the governor to tell us that.

We will have to trust that if the pandemic becomes a bigger threat, that our legislators will work closely with the governor to keep us safe, as they so ardently urged him to do all of last year.