Despite Walz order, over 100 MN businesses are reopening

Good morning!

Here comes a warmup in Minnesota. Milder air begins to push northward into the state once again through Friday. Highs today ease into the 30s across Minnesota. It'll be partly sunny during the morning and early afternoon hours and then increasingly cloudy later. Some flurries are possible in the Twin Cities area in the morning. Find the latest from Updraft.

Bars and restaurants must shut their doors to indoor diners until Jan. 11; about 100 hospitality businesses in Minnesota say they will defy Gov. Walz's order.

Many restaurateurs, barkeepers, hospitality workers and patrons say they are frustrated and disappointed at Gov. Tim Walz's plan to require them to stay closed to indoor dining for at least another three weeks.

“I just don’t have any choice,” says Alan Loth, who co-owns Bogart’s Entertainment Center in Apple Valley. The venue is one of the 100-some Minnesota businesses that have pledged to reopen despite the Walz order. “It’s either that or go bankrupt.”

Are bars and restaurants kindling COVID-19 cases in Minnesota? Our data reporter takes a deep dive into numbers behind outbreaks and their implications.

While the state's data around sources of outbreaks is somewhat limited, reporter David H. Montgomery says, "more than 20 percent of interviewed (contact-traced) people who got COVID-19 said they had eaten at a restaurant in the two weeks before getting sick, while 6 percent had been to a family gathering, and 3.6 percent had gone to a salon."

He adds that although he strongly cautions over-interpreting those numbers, "it's clearly the case that, with the limited data we have, restaurants appear to be linked to a lot more cases than other social activities."

You can receive Montgomery's daily COVID-19 data analysis via our COVID in Minnesota Today newsletter. Sign up here to subscribe.

Days of hope gave way to frustration: 92 more deaths reported Wednesday.

Minnesota's latest COVID-19 data marked one of the highest single-day counts in the pandemic despite decreasing counts of new cases and hospitalizations. It was a hard reality check after a couple days of relatively moderate death counts.

Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:

For many of you planning socially distanced holidays this year, here are some pandemic-friendly festivities to check out.