Good morning and happy Tuesday. A lot of news about the pandemic today.
Results of a new MPR News/Star Tribune/FRONTLINE/KARE-11 poll Minnesota Poll show fewer than a third of Minnesota voters think coronavirus restrictions have gone too far, and a majority support requiring teachers and students to wear masks in schools. Thirty percent of registered Minnesota voters said coronavirus restrictions have gone too far. Forty-three percent say the restrictions have been about right, and 26 percent said they haven’t gone far enough. The poll of 800 Minnesota registered voters found most--80 percent-- have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 18 percent say they haven't had a shot. And those who haven't been vaccinated are almost universally against vaccine mandates. Their strong opposition helps drive a split in support of vaccination requirements. Of those polled, 59 percent said they support requiring teachers and students to wear face masks, compared to 35 percent who are opposed. Read the story from Tim Pugmire.
MPR News reporter Dan Kraker sent this along: More than $64 million is available in grants for Minnesota small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. A 10 day application window for the grants opened Monday. The "Main Street" covid relief grants are for $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the company. Businesses with up to 200 employees which can demonstrate economic hardship as a result of the pandemic are eligible. Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said there are several loans available for small businesses. "But grants are a different kind of funding, obviously, and when you've been as distressed as many of the small businesses have been in our state over the last year and a half, then a grant can really go a long way," Grove said. Half of the money will be allocated to businesses owned by women, military veterans, people of color, and companies with six or fewer employees, Grove said. Winners will be selected by a randomized, computer-generated lottery.
And this note from the Associated Press: COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000. The U.S. population a century ago was just one-third of what it is today, meaning the flu cut a much bigger, more lethal swath through the country. But the COVID-19 crisis is by any measure a colossal tragedy in its own right, especially given the incredible advances in scientific knowledge since then and the failure to take maximum advantage of the vaccines available this time.
This is a different survey but intriguing results as reported by Elizabeth Shockman of MPR News: White Minnesotans think very differently about the opportunities that the state’s K-12 public schools provide to all students than Minnesotans of color, according to a newly released survey from the APM Research Lab. Black Minnesotans were the least likely to say Black children have the same opportunities as their white peers. Only 15 percent of Black Minnesotans, as compared to 48 percent of white Minnesotans, believed all children have the same opportunities, regardless of racial and ethnic background. “There’s just universal underserving of the people of color communities across the board. That’s historical throughout the country as far as having a segregated community,” said Edric Knight, a lawyer who is Black.
Hoang Murphy said on Twitter Monday he is running for the House seat in District 67A currently held by Rep. John Thompson of St. Paul. Murphy initially ran for the seat in 2020 but withdrew from the race before the DFL primary, which Thompson won.
State Sen. David Tomassoni's wife has been charged with domestic assault. The senator recently disclosed he had been diagnosed with ALS. The Star Tribune has the story.
And just to our north: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party secured victory in parliamentary elections but failed to get the majority he wanted in a vote that focused on the coronavirus pandemic but that many Canadians saw as unnecessary. Read more from the AP here. | 