'Significantly more' COVID shots, and more ways to get those vaccines, for older Minnesotans

Welcome to February!

Mild temperatures will stay with us as we start a new month. Highs in southern Minnesota will flirt with 30 degrees today, with the upper 20s to lower 30s for elsewhere in the state. It'll be mostly cloudy in most of Minnesota. Get the latest on the Updraft.

Today, Minnesota will announce its next steps in COVID-19 vaccination plan, including more doses for people 65 and older at more places.

More details are slated to be announced later today. Watch or listen to the announcement live on MPR News.

And more good news on Minnesota's COVID-19 situation: Fewer than 1,000 new cases a day, with hospitalizations and deaths dropping.

Averaged over the past week, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Minnesota each day dropped below 1,000 on Sunday for the first time in more than four months. The average numbers of COVID-19 hospital admissions and deaths each day also continue to fall, as does the average test positivity rate.

Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics:

In Mayo's intensive care unit, the cleaning routine is the same. It’s the heartache that’s new.

Every day, Mayo Clinic’s housekeeping staff works behind the scenes to keep the COVID-19 intensive care unit clean and safe for patients and staff. In many ways, their job isn't much different than before COVID-19. They focus on thoroughly disinfecting and cleaning the unit each and every day.

But there are things that have changed: The gear they wear every time they enter the unit, and the burden of the heartache they have when getting out of the room -- sometimes, the room they clean is empty because the patient got better, but other times because the patient has died. Read the full story here.

St. Paul Public Schools are bringing their youngest learners back to the classroom today, but teachers remain worried about going back to classrooms when they aren't vaccinated.

Students in the district's second grade and younger resume in-person learning today while older grades will return to school buildings on Feb. 16. The union representing teachers in the district says its members are deeply concerned, pressing leaders to delay reopening until more teachers can be vaccinated.

Former President Donald Trump, ahead of his impeachment trial, hired two lawyers in his defense team.

The two lawyers representing him will be an Alabama attorney, David Schoen, and a former prosecutor in Pennsylvania, Bruce Castor. The announcement was intended to promote a sense of stability surrounding the Trump defense team as his impeachment trial nears. The former president has struggled to hire and retain attorneys willing to represent him against charges that he incited the U.S. Capitol riot.

In Myanmar, the country's military has staged a coup and detained senior politicians including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar military television said Monday that the military was taking control of the country for one year. It said the seizure was necessary because the government had not acted on the military’s claims of fraud in November’s elections and because it allowed the election to go ahead despite the pandemic. The coup was a dramatic backslide for Myanmar, which was emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962

9 a.m. today: Who's getting vaccinated — and who's not? While many Americans are clamoring to get a COVID-19 vaccine, others are turning down their doses despite being prioritized based on their age, occupation or risk level. On today's MPR News with Kerri Miller, two doctors discuss the vaccine rollout, who is opting out and what groups are currently being missed.🎧 Tune in to stay informed and connected. Here's what's coming up on MPR News today. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News MPRNews.org.