ST. PAUL -- Here comes another so-called special session. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has announced that he will convene a special session for the Minnesota Legislature on Monday.

Walz says he intends to extend the COVID-19 peacetime emergency by 30 days to ensure that the state can continue to quickly respond to the pandemic.

Northern Minnesota has been the state's COVID-19 hot spot in recent weeks, with more new cases per capita than elsewhere in the state. Itasca County has seen about a 30% growth in total positive COVID-19 cases over the past week, one of the highest increases in the state.

Walz says there's a chance lawmakers could pass a bonding bill Monday, but that the package is likely dead if they don't.

As of Wednesday Minnesota is at #31 for states with the highest positivity rates at 4.4 percent. Meanwhile, several of our surrounding states are seeing spiking cases South Dakota has the highest positivity rate at 23.3 percent, Idaho is number two at 23.2 percent, Wisconsin is number three at 20 percent, and Iowa is number four at 16.8 percent.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' administration has issued a new order limiting the size of public indoor gatherings to stem the spread of COVID-19. The order issued Tuesday limits public indoor gatherings to 25% of the room or building's capacity.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds acknowledged Iowa is seeing surging numbers of coronavirus cases and record hospitalizations, but she says the health care system could handle the increase and no further action was needed to reduce infections.

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