Nurses At Children’s Minnesota Vote On Furloughs

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota's largest pediatric hospital has a plan to furlough the equivalent of 181 full-time nurses as it struggles financially with fewer patients due to COVID-19.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association will begin voting on a furlough agreement with Children's Minnesota Friday. The furloughs affect about 17% of nurses at the hospital.

Children's announced earlier this week that it would stop offering some medical and surgical services at its St. Paul campus because of a decrease in patients.

A number of health care groups in Minnesota are dealing with declining revenue because elective surgeries have been canceled due to an expected surge of coronavirus patients.

Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday said he's looking to revise the ban on elective surgeries in the coming days.