March 24, 2020
A wet Wednesday. There’s also a chance of drizzle in most parts of Minnesota this evening. While rain and snow tomorrow will likely affect the whole state, the southern half of Minnesota is most likely to see some precipitation. Highs tomorrow will be a bit colder than today’s, in the 30s in northern Minnesota to 40s in the southern half of the state.
COVID-19 in Minnesota today: 262 cases confirmed; 20+ hospitalized; 7 in intensive care. Minnesota has 243 adult intensive care beds available, officials say, using hotels or high school gyms as makeshift health care facilities could be an option as the pandemic grows. About 150,000 Minnesotans applied for unemployment benefits; Check if you qualify. A third of applications are from the food preparation services industry, says DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. Not everyone who applies for benefits may qualify, including people who are self-employed. No Olympics this year. The Tokyo Games have been postponed to 2021, due to COVID-19 concerns across the globe. The event will still be called the 2020 Olympics. Other Olympics — 1916, 1940, 1944 — have been canceled because of war, but none have ever been postponed for any reason, let alone a renegade virus that accounts for more than 375,000 cases worldwide, with numbers growing exponentially. The science of coronavirus: How it works, how it affects us, how it spreads. MPR News host Kerri Miller checked in with a virologist and infectious disease doctor about the science of the novel respiratory virus and what’s known and unknown about how to contain its spread and protect our health. Listen to that conversation here. Report: Hoarding now reaches some doctors who are stockpiling unproven COVID-19 drugs. ProPublica reports that pharmacists told them they are seeing some doctors unusually and fraudulently prescribe unproven coronavirus drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, endorsed by President Trump. “It’s disgraceful, is what it is … “And completely selfish,” says Garth Reynolds with the Illinois Pharmacists Association. How has COVID-19 affected you and your family? What are your biggest concerns amid the pandemic? Tell us your story. It will help us get a better idea of how you are impacted and what information will be most important and useful to you. Take our brief survey here. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | 
