July 22, 2020 One more day before another heat wave. Tomorrow will be a bit warmer than Wednesday -- partly cloudy and mostly sunny with highs in the 80s for most parts of Minnesota. Meanwhile, a heat wave is making its way to the state, bringing the overnight temps Thursday up to the lower 70s. Highs near and above the 90s are returning this weekend. You must wear a mask in public indoor spaces in Minnesota, starting Saturday. Here’s what you need to know. Masks will be required in restaurants, bars and other indoor public spaces in Minnesota, and businesses will have to post notice of the new regulations and ensure patrons comply. Exemptions include children age 5 or younger and people with medical conditions that make wearing a mask problematic. Have a question about the mandate? Tell us and we’ll try to track down the answer. Demand at food shelves has significantly grown amid the pandemic, and is expected to increase more. As many Minnesotans lost jobs or had their income cut due to the pandemic, demand for free or reduced-cost food has gone up for the past few months, and food shelves are bracing for more. Before COVID-19’s arrival in Minnesota, 1 in 11 people struggled to afford food, according to a Twin Cities-based food bank Second Harvest Heartland, and now that’s increased to 1 in 8. Living in the Twin Cities and in need of help finding food? Check out this map of food shelves in Minneapolis to see where you can get some help. The U.S. signs an agreement to get 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer. The Trump administration will pay Pfizer nearly $2 billion for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing, federal health officials said. Another 500 million doses could also be purchased under the agreement. "It can be a killer and then 40 percent of people don't even know they have it,” medical experts delve into silent spreaders. An outbreak at a South Korean nightclub showed more than 30 percent of cases were asymptomatic; at one New York maternity ward, some 88 percent of positive cases had no symptoms. Evidence continues to accumulate, and the CDC now estimates 40 percent of transmission is occurring before people feel sick. And as the country and states continue to reopen the economy, that silent transmission makes it almost impossible to contain the virus, medical experts say. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | @ChoiGEE1 |