COVID infections prompt Veterans Home in Minneapolis to cancel Veterans Day event

The Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis has canceled its annual Veterans Day event for families on Saturday, due to a handful of COVID infections among its 250 residents.

Instead, staffers at the state-run home, near Minnehaha Regional Park on the banks of the Mississippi River, will be holding smaller and more informal gatherings to mark the day in each of the facility’s three buildings.

“We like to be cautious,” said Anne Sonnee, director of communications for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. “It’s just a reminder that COVID isn’t gone. When it does happen, we try to be really aggressive and stop it in its tracks.”

The state’s annual Veterans Day Event will go on as scheduled Saturday at the Inver Grove Heights Veterans Memorial Community Center, 8055 Barbara Av., with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and the official program starting at 10 a.m. The event is open to the public.

A livestream of the event will be broadcast, and residents of the Veterans Home will have the opportunity to watch that event online.