| Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
Nov. 25, 2020 Hopes grow for aid package as COVID-19 cases climb | |
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Good morning. We can expect cloudy skies with near steady temperatures in the mid-30s throughout most of Minnesota. Find out more from Updraft.
After weeks of surging cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Tuesday seemed to offer bits of hope in the politics and the statistics of COVID-19.
Gov. Tim Walz and GOP lawmakers seemed to agree they need to help bar and restaurant owners and workers hurt by the current ban on in-person service. And the trend line on new hospital admission flattened, even as single-day admissions jumped.
The governor and the GOP rolled out plans that appeared to have some solid overlap, making a quick deal realistic. But is a pandemic peak in sight? Officials say probably not.
Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:
3,303 deaths (38 new)282,916 positive cases (6,423 new), 233,847 off isolation3.9 million tests, 2.4 million people tested (about 42 percent of the population)12.1 percent seven-day testing rate (officials find 5 percent concerning) Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm on Tuesday afternoon tamped down hopes that the current data pointed to a consistent improvement in conditions, and she noted hospital admissions remain high.
The pandemic has isolated many of us from friends, family and coworkers. But for older people who live alone, the loss of connection can cut even deeper. Researchers have been talking with dozens of older adults in Minnesota and North Dakota since the pandemic started, in an ongoing study of the impacts of isolation.
"We asked them questions about their daily lives, their connections with family, friends, neighbors, how they were adapting, and how needing to stay at home and isolate, how that was changing their lives and affecting their well being," said NDSU associate professor Heather Fuller.
The head of one of the largest regional health systems in the Midwest was replaced Tuesday, less than a week after telling employees that he had recovered from COVID-19 and was not wearing a mask around the office.
Sanford Health said in a release that it has “mutually agreed to part ways” with longtime CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft, who took over in 1996 and helped expand the organization from a community hospital into what is billed as the largest rural nonprofit health system in the country.
Krabbenhoft left the executive position after telling employees in an email that he believes he’s now immune to COVID-19 for “at least seven months and perhaps years to come” and that he isn’t a threat to transmit it to anyone. He said wearing a mask would be merely for show. Other Sanford executives tried to distance themselves from the comments.
This afternoon on All Things Considered, MPR News will kick off a series looking at how the community has transformed the site of George Floyd’s killing — 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis — and at the people behind its transformation. It is the culmination of reporting over several months, and a partnership with South High School to engage neighborhood youth in telling their community’s story.
🎧 Tune in and stay informed. Here's what's coming up on MPR News today.
-- Matt Mikus, MPR News (@mikusmatt) |
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