COVID-19 Situational Awareness

• March 6 - The county was notified of its first confirmed COVID-19 case and Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health activated its Incident Command System. Cases in Ramsey County, the State of Minnesota, the nation and across the globe continue to climb.
• March 13 - Governor Walz declared a Peacetime Emergency and recommended all Minnesotans to practice social distancing, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations. Ramsey County, the city of Saint Paul, and several suburban municipalities declared Local States of Emergency. The Ramsey County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated virtually. Schools, bars, restaurants and other places of public accommodation have been fully or partially closed.
• March 14 - Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) activated their EOC.
• March 19 - National Emergency declared, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assumed a coordinating role for COVID-19 federal response.
• March 21 - The Minnesota National Guard activated.
• March 25 -  Governor Walz issued an executive order directing Minnesotans to stay at home for two weeks effective 3/27/2020, and later extended this order until 5/4/2020.
• March 28 - Governor Walz signed a bill to allocate $330 million in COVID-19 aid in Minnesota, bringing the state’s total response to more than $550 million to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill was passed by the Minnesota Legislature previously on 3/26/2020.
  • Governor Tim Walz signed Executive Orders 20-25 and 20-26 to extend licenses for first responders and allow the medical cannabis program to continue safely serving Minnesotans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• April 2 - President Trump declared a major disaster and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Governor Walz announced that Minnesota’s health plans have agreed to waive cost-sharing for treatment of COVID-19
  • Governor Walz unveiled a new State of Minnesota COVID- 19 dashboard that tracks the virus in Minnesota and provides the latest available data on available ventilators, ICU beds, personal protective equipment (PPE), and testing.
• April 23 - Governor Walz issued Executive Order 20-40, which canceled K-12 school for the reminder of the 2019-2020 school year and provided guidance on the gradual reopening of businesses utilizing a public health framework.
• April 30 - Governor Walz extended Stay Home Order in Minnesota until May 18, allows curbside pickup for retail stores and strongly encourages all Minnesotans to wear masks when outside the home.
• May 11 - Governor Walz issued Emergency Executive Order 20-52 authorizing students in critical sectors to return to safe higher education institutions for completion of a postsecondary credential.  
• May 13 - Governor. Walz issued Executive Orders extending the peacetime emergency declared in Executive Order 20-01. Executive Order 20-48 is rescinded as of Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. For details on Safely Reopening Minnesota’s Economy and Ensuring Safe Non-Work Activities during the COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency, see the Governor’s website.

Ramsey County has a modified "Planning P" process for the COVID-19 Incident Management process.

Phase 1 - Understand the situation

1. Incident begins.
2. Initial response and assessment - EMHS and responders.
3. Notification to county leadership.
4. Incident Management Team (IMT) activation.

Phase 2 - Establish Objectives

1. Policy and partnerships (P&P): Set daily priorities, establish policy, issue guidance.
2. County Incident Manager (CIM) / P&P: Circulate daily priorities and objectives.

Phase 3 - Develop the plan

1. CIM – Check in daily with Section Chiefs, P&P, Ramsey County Sheriff's Office (RCSO), City of Saint Paul, suburban areas of concern to coordinate and problem solve efforts
2. Section Chiefs – meet with Branches and Section staff to develop/review & adjust strategy for achieving Short Term Objectives (STO); Develop STOs for the Operational Period. (Daily)
3. Section Chiefs - Develop daily tactics for achieving STO.
4. IMT meeting - Present, discuss, adjust STO status for current operational period to provide common situational understanding (Monday and Wednesday).
5. IMT meeting - Present, discuss, adjust STO for upcoming operational period (Friday).

Phase 4 - Prepare and disseminate plans

1. Administrative Assistant 4s (AA4s):
   
   1. Monday, Wednesday, Friday- Compile STO from meeting and issue Situation Report (SitRep).
   2. Friday - Develop new Incident Action Plan (IAP) to be approved by CIM.
2. CIM - Review and approve IAP for release (Friday).
3. AA4s - Periodic updates to Long Term Objectives (LTO).

Phase 5 - Execute, Evaluate and Revise IAP

All Sections work on STO. Notify CIM if completed or if there are obstacles. All Sections identify new STO for the next Operational Period. 

Issue Meetings for policy alignment and problem solving:

• Planning and Logistics (Tuesday).
• Operation and Finance (Thursday).

Repeat process and reevaluate

Repeat this process, beginning at Phase 2.