Jan. 19, 2021
Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with lows 5 below zero northeast to 15 above southwest. Tomorrow will be partly sunny, with highs in the lower 30s to the lower 40s. Then we’re going to get a little more winter! There’s increasing potential for a storm system that may bring impactful winter weather to much of the Upper Midwest this weekend, but the timing and intensity is still unclear. Find the latest on Updraft. The state’s new vaccine distribution system staggered under demand by newly eligible people 65 and older as well as teachers and child care workers. Officials said they’d doled out about 6,100 appointment slots for vaccine doses so far, although they acknowledged the demand far outstripped the supply. About 12,000 doses — roughly 20 percent of Minnesota’s current weekly allocation — are being distributed to nine sites around the state, part of a pilot program intended to speed vaccinations to people 65 and older as well as to educators and child care workers. However, the online booking process that launched at noon Tuesday quickly became overwhelmed, getting more than 1 million hits with a spike of more than 10,000 a second. Thousands of Minnesota elementary students went back to school today, some of them seeing their classrooms in person for the first time ever. In December, Gov. Tim Walz told elementary schools that, starting this week, they could begin full-time in-person learning for the youngest students, regardless of the COVID-19 case rates in their county. Elementary students are in classes today in a number of Twin Cities districts, including Anoka-Hennepin, Osseo, White Bear Lake and Robbinsdale.
New COVID-19 cases fell to their lowest point since the first week in October in Tuesday's numbers from Minnesota health officials. There were 922 newly confirmed or probable cases of the disease — along with 6 more deaths; 584 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 , with 110 needing intensive care. Intensive care cases are down to their lowest point since Oct. 1. You can get more of the latest news, in just a few minutes, via the Minnesota Today podcast. — Tim Nelson | MPR News |