As part of its COVID-19 response, the State of Minnesota had a Community Resiliency and Recovery workgroup composed of external advisors – community leaders representing underrepresented groups including residents identifying as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and persons with a disability – at least monthly to discuss the progress of state’s COVID-19 response. A component of these meetings was a discussion of the public data on the Data by Race/Ethnicity section of the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. These meetings led to substantive changes to the dashboard, including adding data on congregate care settings such as nursing homes and people experiencing homelessness.
In late 2020, Minnesota analyzed a combination of Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 case data with Department of Education learning model data (which shows where students were in-person learning versus remote learning). The results showed minimal difference in COVID-19 cases among elementary schools when comparing in-person to remote learning models. As a result, the Governor chose to allow more flexibility for school districts to provide in-person learning for elementary students along with the support to do so safely.