More grim records of COVID in MN: 56 deaths, 4,900 cases, 32% positivity rate

Ready for more flurries? Tonight and tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a chance for snow showers, mostly in the southern part of the state. Highs are in the 20s to the northwest and 30s to the southeast.

56 more deaths, 4,900 new cases, 30+ percent positivity rate: Minnesota's COVID-19 situation is looking grim today.

Wednesday’s awful numbers put Minnesota’s seven-day trend above 30 deaths a day for the first time in the pandemic. About 1,300 people are in Minnesota hospitals now because of COVID-19, with nearly 300 needing intensive care.

As case rates rise, more Minnesota schools halt in-person learning.

School districts statewide are planning to transition their students to distance learning, including Duluth, Bloomington and Hopkins Public schools. There are concerns about the risk of cases going up even more during flu season.

The state prison in St. Cloud is under modified lockdown due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases among inmates and staff.

Recently the facility has reported 381 total positive or presumed positive cases in St. Cloud since the pandemic began, up from 179 in late October — 169 of those cases have recovered.