| Paul Middlestaedt for MPR News
Oct. 26, 2020 Minn. nursing homes in rural areas see staff shortages worsen with COVID-19 | |
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Good morning. Snow has cleared out, bringing more sunshine back Monday, but temperatures stay chilly enough that parts of Minnesota could see record cold. Check out Updraft for more weather coverage.
Minnesota health officials reported nearly 4,000 more confirmed COVID-19 cases and 35 more deaths over the weekend
The state has averaged 16 COVID-19 deaths a day over the past week — that's a level not seen since June. The average number of new hospitalizations each day also continues to climb.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state reached a record high on Saturday at more than 13,000. The number ticked down slightly on Sunday, to 12,968; it was 8,171 on Oct. 1.
The weekly average for test positivity rate in Minnesota was at 6.7 percent on Sunday — down slightly from Saturday, but well above the 4.6 percent rate at the start of the month.
“There is more disease out there, and not just because we’re doing more testing,” Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters Friday.
Facilities caring for older adults are struggling with low staffing levels, as COVID-19 makes an ongoing problem even worse.
Nursing home operators say they’re scrambling to make sure they have enough nurses and others to ensure the safety and well-being of residents.
In a matter of hours in early October, Paul Gaebe’s Friday went from normal to one of dire emergency. A resident at Mother of Mercy assisted living facility in Albany, Minn., had COVID-19.
“We had several staff that had contact with that individual,” Gaebe said. “And suddenly we went from normal staffing to short staffing within less than a day.”
Then a handful of high school students who also worked as care attendants at the home quit. Gaebe says they worried they wouldn’t be able to attend school if they were working with patients who had COVID-19.
“In a matter of about 24 hours we lost 16 employees.” -- Peter Cox, MPR News
Campaigns, candidates and, most importantly, voters are all in a holding pattern and looking for small things to cling to — or worry about.
And the coronavirus pandemic, which has introduced a new, difficult-to-quantify variable in the outcome of the election, only makes matters more anxiety-producing.
Here are five things to watch that can give some signs of where things are headed.
Have questions leading up to the Election Day? #AskMPRNews. We want to hear your stories and questions, too. #TellMPRNews what you think we should be asking Minnesota candidates on social media or by emailing tell@mpr.org.
Beyond politics, what issues are most important to Minnesotans? Tell us what you hope your life here is like in the future.
Get side-by-side comparisons of the Democratic and Republican candidates running for Minnesota’s most hotly contested political races with MPR News voter guides.
Voting in the general election is underway. Here is how you can vote from home.
-- Michael Olson, MPR News ( @publicmic)
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