Good morning. There's a slight chance of showers far in the northeast, but otherwise mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 60s to lower 70s throughout Minnesota, except in the 50s in the arrowhead. Updraft A recent change to the COVID-19 data reported by the Minnesota Department of Health is drawing fire from Republican lawmakers.
On Sept. 24, the Health Department’s daily COVID-19 update stopped reporting the number of Minnesotans currently hospitalized with the disease, and in intensive care units, which it had shared every day since early in the pandemic.
Now 26 Republican members of the state Senate have sent a letter to Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm asking her to resume sharing data on current hospitalization rates.
The old stats on hospital occupancy captured several different aspects of COVID-19. When occupancy numbers went down, that could reflect a combination of fewer new admissions, more patients being discharged, and more patients dying. The new data only captures changes in admissions, and not how long patients are hospitalized.
Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:2,087 deaths105,740 positive cases, 95,614 off isolation 2,182,970 tests, 1,502,736 people tested4.7 percent seven-day positive test rate While the growth of new COVID-19 cases has leveled off in the Twin Cities metro area, it continues to surge in greater Minnesota, especially across the northern third of the state, which over the last week has averaged the most cases per capita.
After the killing of George Floyd, many Minnesota K-12 administrators publicly declared their commitment to making their schools more equal and inclusive. But experts say much more than public commitment and statements of support are needed to dismantle the long-running and deeply entrenched inequalities that plague Minnesota’s education system.
And if the example in Eastern Carver County is any indication, the process of dismantling barriers between students and the education opportunities they’re entitled to is often fraught with pushback, tension and stalled efforts. Read more from MPR News reporter Riham Feshir.
Voting by mail has been a hot topic of debate during this year's election campaign, since President Trump claimed -- without evidence -- that it's ripe for fraud. But in some places in Minnesota, voters have been casting their ballots exclusively by mail for years, with few reported problems.
-- Matt Mikus, MPR News @mikusmatt |
