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Good morning. Five days ago hardly anyone imagined that Minnesota would be in full coronavirus reaction mode by the end of the week. Yet this morning in Minneapolis, where the bar association offices are located, the freeway and skyway traffic was barely half that of a normal Friday, and the only sure thing at this point is that by Monday, it will be lighter still. As law firms and other organizations scramble to accommodate the demands of public health while managing to keep the lights on, we’re offering up this special edition of Legal News Digest to help you in the process.
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Official Public Health Information
- Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 homepage.
- Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) COVID-19 homepage.
- Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (University of Minnesota) COVID-19 homepage.
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Epidemiology & Outlook
- Former Minnesota state epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who wrote the 2017 bestseller Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs and now heads the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, gave the best interview we’ve seen on the coronavirus big picture a few days ago.
- This piece from the Atlantic, “Cancel everything,” explains the public health mindset that has guided the cascading shutdowns of large public gatherings in recent days.
- We have all had an earful about handwashing, but “social distancing” may be even more important—and here’s a rundown of “The do’s and don’ts of social distancing.”
- This morning the school district in Robbinsdale (a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis) became the first in the state to shut down.
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The Courts
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Coronavirus & Employment Law
- At Felhaber Larson’s MN Employment Law Report blog, Colin Hargreaves has posted a coronavirus FAQ for employers (part 1) (part 2) and will be posting additional information about “work-at-home issues, the privacy implications of COVID-19 and the legal considerations surrounding employees who refuse to come to work out of fear of contagion” here.
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MSBA Remote Work Resources
- Select 'Remote Participation' when registering for a CLE. You'll get a link the day before the event with simple instructions on how to participate from your computer or mobile device. Remote participation is 'live' and does NOT count toward the limited number of on-demand credits you may report each period. (You may report up to 15 credits of On-Demand CLE programming. The MSBA On-Demand CLE Library is here.)
- Meet in the online communities at my.mnbar.org. These MSBA online forums are a great way to connect with colleagues without sharing a room. In the communities, you may chat, share and build documents, and access other resources like the practicelaw library. There's a community for every MSBA section. If you're a member of a section, you're already a member of that section's community. Plus, there are dozens of other working groups and committees already operating online. If you're not familiar with using the communities or would like to chat about creating a new work group, contact Mike Carlson for help: mcarlson@mnbars.org, 612.278.6336.
- Schedule a One-on-One. We use the web meeting application Zoom to host online, one-on-one meetings so members may chat with MSBA staff about member services and resources regardless of location. Schedule a meeting to talk about your options for remotely connecting with MSBA members and resources, webcasting your event, or just to chat about effective work-from-home strategies. Schedule a time with Mike.
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Other Remote Work Info/Resources
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