Gov. Tim Walz and public safety officials pleaded Wednesday for Minnesotans to follow coronavirus safety guidelines to protect their local police, fire, and ambulance services, which have been hit hard by staff shortages and the surge in cases.

Safety officials say 99 of the 498 fire departments reporting across the state have had COVID-19 outbreaks, and other emergency responders have also been hit hard.

Gov. Walz also announced today that in the week since Minnesota announced the COVID-19 exposure app COVIDaware MN, over 230,000 Minnesotans have downloaded it. Within two days of the app’s Nov. 23 launch, it was the third most popular utilities app in the iPhone App Store.

By — Lakeland News