Walz to announce loosening of COVID restrictions Friday

Gov. Tim Walz says he will announce a loosening of COVID-19 restrictions in Minnesota on Friday.

Speaking during a press conference highlighting his summer learning plan on Thursday, the governor said the announcement will give guidance and more clarity on larger gatherings happening as soon as next month.

"Tomorrow morning, we’ll be making a dial turn on mitigation efforts," Walz said. "I think the next 3-4 weeks will determine how this pandemic ends, where the variants are at," he added.

When asked about events like graduation ceremonies and prom for high school students, Walz responded, "I certainly envision that those will look pretty close to normal." He added that there may still be some distancing and masks but unless variants cause a large spike in the near future, events like those are likely to get back to happening.

"I think you’ll start to see the dial turns happen faster and rapidly happen over this," Walz said, noting that’s based on what the federal government is saying about ramping up vaccine supply and people continuing following health guidelines for the near future.

The governor has talked about the importance of giving schools and others, including the Minnesota Twins, the time to plan for restarting large events.

Friday’s announcement is set to take place at 11 a.m.

Stay with KSTP.com and 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS for updates.