North Ramsey News

Sen. Roger Chamberlain is happy to be a member of Senate Republicans’ new working group that addresses Minnesota’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Senate Republican’s website, the COVID-19 Response Working Group was created to review coronavirus-related bills and proposals, and discuss the state’s needs to deal with the crisis. The meetings are being live streamed via Facebook and other applications.

“We have to be able to act quickly as the situation on the ground changes, and the public deserves to know what the issues are and have an opportunity to be involved in the government's response efforts,” Chamberlain wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

Chamberlain said planning for the aftermath of coronavirus, in terms of repairing the economy, is among the issues that needs to be addressed. 

“Since the initial closing of restaurants and bars, 260,000 Minnesotans have filed for unemployment,” Chamberlain said in another Facebook post. “We need to determine how to support families, communities, employees and employers.”

Chamberlain said while the healthcare system is beginning to stabilize with some hospitals having extra capacity and access to needed supplies, individuals must avoid going to hospitals if they can.

“Bethesda hospital has been designated as a care facility and companies across the country have converted to producing ventilators and masks,” he wrote. “More test kits are available and turn around for the tests has greatly improved. That said, to avoid unnecessarily burdening hospitals, follow CDC MDH advice – stay home if you are sick unless you are in a high-risk demographic and are unable to manage at home.”

Chamberlain is one of 11 members of the coronavirus working group. In addition to the group’s chair, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, there are four permanent Republican members, four permanent Democrat members, one rotating Republican member and one rotating Democrat member.