Dreadful December: 1,065 Minnesotans lost to COVID-19 this month

Good morning and welcome to the weekend!

Some patchy overnight fog and mist give way to a wintry mix of ice and snow favoring northern Minnesota Friday. Flurries and drizzle may reach as far south as the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota today. Highs will be in the 30s across the state. Find the latest from Updraft.

Starting tomorrow, you can work out at your gym or grab a drink on an outdoor patio of your favorite brewery.

The current monthlong restrictions on gyms and outdoor dining are set to expire tonight, although the ban on indoor dining and other curbs have been extended into next month.

But the loosened order comes with a caveat: Outdoor seating is allowed at 50 percent capacity, with four customers per table, up to 100 people total. Patrons must be seated if food or drink is served, with tables at least 6 feet apart. Also you must wear a mask and keep 12 feet of social distancing from others while inside a fitness center.

Have more questions about what's allowed and what's not? Here are answers to some of the most frequently questions about Minnesota's latest COVID-19 restrictions.

With over a thousand COVID-19 deaths reported already, December will likely be Minnesota’s deadliest in the pandemic.

While there continue to be some hopeful trends with new daily caseloads and hospital admissions, those can’t offset the pain of 1,065 COVID-19 deaths reported already in the first 17 days of December.

Thursday's COVID-19 data from the Health Department showed 83 newly reported deaths. That brings the total death toll to 4,658, with nearly half of those occurring in the last six weeks.

With a panel recommendation, the FDA is poised to approve the second COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the U.S.

The vaccine, this one from Moderna, is 94 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, and the agency's analysis said there are no specific safety concerns that would stand in the way of authorization.

But Moderna has never had a product make it to market, and questions arise over whether the company would be able to meet the demand when it gets the FDA approval.

Joe Biden's victory has been sealed for days and yet, Minnesota's Republican Rep. Tom Emmer still refuses to call Biden president-elect.

During a forum Thursday, Emmer said he acknowledged that the Electoral College has certified Biden's win, but claimed the process is not over. "As someone who was in a recount himself 10 years ago, I know that we need to respect the process whether you agree with it or not," the Republican congressman said.