Walz addresses current COVID-19 situation in Minnesota

(ABC 6 News) – Gov. Tim Walz addressed early Wednesday that a peacetime emergency will not necessarily help the current COVID-19 situation in the state of Minnesota.

"So, this is not about holding back and saying ‘well if the governor would just declare a peacetime emergency, our death rates would go down.’ That is demonstratively false at this point in time, especially if people did not follow that. What we do know, and the data supports this, is vaccines, boosters and getting these 5 to 11-year-olds done is the most effective thing we can do," Walz said.

Walz says there is no correlation between him using his emergency powers and actually showing it protected people and made a difference.

He says he is going to continue to focus on the tools that will make the biggest difference in this pandemic – the vaccine.