During the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm was a frequent face and voice on television and radio stations across the state, often holding daily press conferences.

“We were trying to protect people,” said Malcolm, who has since retired from MDH.

During the early days of the novel virus, Malcolm said there were so many unknowns, including how it spread, how to control it and how it impacted health.

“I think we had no clue that this would have all the twists and turns that it did, and last for as long as it did, and as huge of an impact on health and many other things globally,” Malcolm said.  

Malcolm said MDH was guided by Minnesota researchers to find answers.

“I knew we had the most talented people in the country working on this,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm admits state leaders made difficult choices trying to stop the spread that were questioned by some.

“The stay-at-home orders, the school closings, even from day one, that was just a wrenching decision,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm spoke to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS more about the decision to go from in-person learning to virtual classes for Minnesota students in 2020.

“In hindsight, I hope we will kind of figure out to do some things differently,” Malcolm said. “The school closures, for example, obviously had huge long-term impacts, and to this day, we’re still debating, ‘Were the closures necessary? How much did they protect kids?’”

Malcolm said officials relied heavily on data at the time and wonders now if officials could have communicated COVID messages in a different way.

“Coming at issues that were contentious with a little more empathy for what are the reasons people were afraid of the vaccines, or resistant to the mandates,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm feels state and federal funding is key to preventing a future pandemic.

“We need to be ready; I fear that in our desire to just move on and have that in the rearview mirror, that we may not be taking those lessons as seriously as we need to,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm served as MDH commissioner under three governors before she retired at the end of Gov. Tim Walz’s first term.