Tag: COVID-19

First sign of South African variant in Minnesota adds to COVID-19 concerns

Star Tribune logo

Mayo study offers new evidence that vaccine prevents asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, and resulting viral spread. 

Gov. Tim Walz on Friday will announce looser restrictions on group events in Minnesota, despite a sports-related COVID-19 outbreak in Carver County and the state’s first known infection involving a variant found in South Africa.

The governor on Thursday called the switch “probably our biggest turn” in response to improving statewide pandemic indicators, and he hinted that it could permit everything from high school proms to live Minnesota Twins baseball.

“Unless we see the variants come roaring back and something goes terribly wrong, I think those things will happen,” Walz said after a speech at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School to advocate for a summer learning funding plan. Continue reading.

Biden Tells Nation There Is Hope After a Devastating Year

New York Times logo

In his first prime-time address from the White House, the president said that he would order states to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1 and that a return to normalcy was possible by July 4.

WASHINGTON — Seeking to comfort Americans bound together by a year of suffering but also by “hope and the possibilities,” President Biden made a case to the nation Thursday night that it could soon put the worst of the pandemic behind it and promised that all adults would be eligible for the vaccine by May 1.

During a 24-minute speech from the East Room, Mr. Biden laced his somber script with references to Hemingway and personal ruminations on loss as he reflected on a “collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life, and the loss of living, for all of us.”

Speaking on the anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a pandemic and the moment at which the virus began tightening its grip, the president offered a turning point of sorts after one of the darkest years in recent history, one that would lead to more than half a million deaths in the country, the loss of millions of jobs and disruptions to nearly every aspect of society and politics. Continue reading.

Stimulus checks could hit some bank accounts as soon as this weekend, White House says

A year into the pandemic, more than 18 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefit.

The next batch of stimulus checks will be deposited into some bank accounts this weekend, the White House said Thursday.

“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on Thursday afternoon.

Psaki said that the checks are “the first wave” and they will continue to flow over “the next several weeks.” Continue reading.

Gov. Walz lays out major rollback of Minnesota’s COVID-19 restrictions

Star Tribune logo

Limits eased on concerts, restaurants, gatherings. 

Large events from high school proms to live Minnesota Twins games can resume this spring under a rollback of COVID-19 restrictions announced Friday by Gov. Tim Walz.

While public mask-wearing and social distancing requirements will remain, Minnesota will allow in-person work again, lift capacity limits for worship services and permit up to 10,000 fans at the Twins home opener April 8.

“We’re winning, and this thing’s coming to an end,” said Walz, who encouraged people to plan for summer weddings and the May 15 walleye opener. “Let’s just buckle down. We’re going to know in the next three or four weeks if we’ve truly got this thing on the ropes and it’s done and then we finish it.” Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: March 12, 2021

As Cases Fall and Vaccination Ramps up, Governor Walz Adjusts COVID-19 Mitigation Measures

Brighter Days Are Here


As Minnesota continues to make progress vaccinating Minnesotans and slowing the spread of COVID-19, Governor Walz today announced that on March 15 Minnesotans can begin safely gathering with more friends and loved ones, supporting Minnesota’s small businesses, and visiting large venues.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: March 12, 2021”

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission after one dose – UK study

Reuters Logo

LONDON – A single dose of Pfizer and BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine cuts the number of asymptomatic infections and could significantly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, results of a UK study found on Friday.

Researchers analysed results from thousands of COVID-19 tests carried out each week as part of hospital screenings of healthcare staff in Cambridge, eastern England.

“Our findings show a dramatic reduction in the rate of positive screening tests among asymptomatic healthcare workers after a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” said Nick Jones, an infectious diseases specialist at Cambridge University Hospital, who co-led the study. Continue reading.

Housing panel OKs plan to extend eviction ban beyond emergency pandemic order

MN House Public Information Service Banner

Minnesota landlords, generally prohibited from evicting tenants under Gov. Tim Walz’s COVID-19 peacetime emergency orders, could be required to wait 60 days before starting most eviction proceedings in the 12 months after the orders expire.

HF12, sponsored by Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul), would only allow immediate evictions during the 12-month period in the most serious circumstances, such as if a tenant unlawfully destroys property, not for rent nonpayment.

Mortgage lenders would also be required to wait 60 days before filing foreclosures. Continue reading.

Billions in aid from COVID-19 relief bill headed to Minnesota

Star Tribune logo

The COVID relief bill includes state and local aid, help for the hospitality and agriculture sectors. 

WASHINGTON – Minnesota’s state and local governments, its ailing hospitality industry, struggling small businesses and the agricultural sector will get a financial boost from the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

An estimated nearly $4.9 billion will flow to Minnesota governments, including almost $2.6 billion to the state and another $2.1 billion for cities, counties and other local governments.

“The impact of this bill is going to be seen and felt by people in Minnesota right away, and it’s going to make a big difference as they’re digging themselves out of what’s been a really terrible public health and economic crisis,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith in an interview. Continue reading.

House DFL lawmakers introduce legislation to increase opportunities for equitable COVID-19 vaccine access

House DFL logo

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – House DFL lawmakers Wednesday introduced new legislation to increase opportunities for equitable COVID-19 vaccine access. In response to the vast disparities outlined in reporting from the Minnesota Department of Health, Representative Kelly Morrison (DFL-Deephaven), Representative Jay Xiong (DFL-St. Paul), Representative Hodan Hassan (DFL-Minneapolis), Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley), and 31 other House DFLers are leading efforts to close the gap and get more vaccine doses distributed to marginalized communities across the state.

“By doubling down on our efforts now to get shots into as many arms as possible, in every corner of the state, we can crush the virus and close the chapter on this public health crisis,” said Rep. Morrison, a practicing physician and Assistant Majority Leader in the Minnesota House. “The Minnesota Department of Health has been doing an incredible job handling the pandemic response, but we can and should do more for our communities who have been especially hit hard over the last year.”

The legislation would establish a Mobile Vaccine Program, in which mobile vaccination vehicles are deployed to disproportionately impacted communities around the state to provide COVID-19 vaccines to those residents. A mobile vaccination vehicle providing vaccines in a community with a large number of residents with limited English proficiency must also be staffed by interpreters for the needed languages.

Continue reading “House DFL lawmakers introduce legislation to increase opportunities for equitable COVID-19 vaccine access”

Federal officials relax guidance on nursing home visits, citing vaccines and slowing infections

Washington Post logo

Federal health officials on Wednesday substantially relaxed the government’s guidelines for family and friends to see nursing home residents in person, saying that vaccinations and a slowing of coronavirus infections in the facilities warrant restoring indoor visits in most situations.

The nursing home guidance, the first federal advice on the subject since September, says “outdoor visitation is preferred,” even when a nursing home resident and family or friends are fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

But acknowledging that weather or a resident’s poor health might make an outdoor visit impractical, the recommendations encourage nursing homes to permit indoor visits “at all times and for all residents,” regardless of whether people have been vaccinated, except in a few circumstances. Continue reading.