Protesters outside the governor’s residence in St. Paul this weekend rallied around the battle cry: “Liberate Minnesota.”

Hundreds of protesters waving U.S. flags and standing shoulder to shoulder demonstrated against Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home restrictions. They want stores and businesses to reopen so people can go back to work.

The protesters are alleging tyranny and violations of their rights. However, their anger is misdirected.

Walz is not the enemy. COVID-19 is the enemy.

We don’t know what statistics the protesters were looking at, but now is not the time to end the stay home orders designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the number of positive cases reported started rising last week, averaging 132 cases a day since last Wednesday. Even more telling, the three day death toll since Friday has been the deadliest three-day stretch since the state recorded its first death on March 21 — 17 deaths on Friday, 10 on Saturday, 13 on Sunday.

Those who argue that the state’s COVID-19 statistics are minimal compared to the real hot spots in the country, like New York, we ask: Why do you think that is? Could it be that the shutdown measures have been working as intended, preventing people from being exposed and infected by the virus?

And to those who argue the virus is nothing more than a flu bug that kills the weak and feeble, they are just wrong. While some may test positive with the virus and escape with little or no sickness, others of all ages are suffering from heinous health issues that not only affect the respiratory system, but other organs as well.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Sunday edition featured on its front page the story of Iron Man athlete Ben O’Donnell. According to article, the COVID-19 ravaged his lungs and forced doctors to place him on a ventilator. The article stated his case as proof the young and healthy are not surefire shields against COVID-19.

“I was close as you could be to checking out without checking out,” he said after officially surviving the bout with the virus.

On the same weekend protesters were shouting for businesses to reopen, word got out of a major outbreak at a meat plant here in southwest Minnesota located in Worthington. A total of 26 workers and five relatives tested positive. On Monday, JBS USA shut down the Worthington plant. That shutdown follows the shutdown of a meat plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. — the site of another major cluster of COVID-19 cases.

In Monday’s briefing, Walz stressed keeping businesses in Minnesota closed indefinitely is not sustainable. But a “balanced” approach is required in transitioning toward reopening Minnesota businesses. Retail stores to industry operations will need to make modifications to allow for safety of workers. That will take a lot of planning, which will take some time.

Minnesotans will get back to work. But only when we all understand the enemy is COVID-19. It will take everybody in Marshall, everybody in Southwest Minnesota and everybody in the state of Minnesota to work together reduce the destruction being caused by COVID-19.