Dec. 16, 2020

It’ll be mostly cloudy tonight, with a slight chance of flurries. Lows from 15 to 22 statewide. Thursday will be partly sunny with highs near 30. Tomorrow night will be mostly cloud with lows from 15 to 25. Look for a chance of snow and highs in the 30s on Friday. Check out the latest from Updraft.

Gov. Tim Walz rolled out plans to extend a shutdown of bars and restaurants through the second week of January, even as a few establishments defied the order currently in place.

Walz noted some positive signs — a $216 million state COVID-19 aid effort, vaccines arriving in bulk, and progress toward more aid in Washington. But he said the state still can’t return to normal.

Here are the details he laid out this afternoon.

Bars, restaurants and breweries will have to remain closed for indoor dining until Jan. 11, with continued takeout and limited outdoor service
Outdoor social gatherings are limited to three households and 15 people max
Indoor gatherings can include no more than two families and 10 people
Gyms can reopen Saturday at 25 percent capacity with a 100 person limit and 12-foot separation. Fitness classes can resume Jan. 4
Youth sports can resume practices Jan. 4, but will have to put off games and matches

The other big takeaway — the state wants elementary schools to start reopening on Jan. 18, with kindergarten and primary grade students.

“We’ll get the littlest ones in first, and we’ll start rolling back," Walz said. "And the plan is to get that as soon as we possibly can, and as safely as we possibly can, working with districts and working with teachers, understanding we can’t lose that teacher workforce.”

The latest Health Department data tallies 92 additional deaths, nearly 50 percent above the recent 7-day rolling average. New hospitalizations also jumped, nearing 200 for the first time since last week.

That's counter to many other COVID-19 trends, and likely a reflection that deaths and serious illness lag case growth by a number of weeks. Most of the COVID-19 indicators have now fallen back to their late October levels, as a November peak subsides

You can get more of the latest news, in just a few minutes, via the Minnesota Today podcast. — Tim Nelson | MPR News

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