| Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
July 24, 2020
Dangerous heat and many reasons to wear your mask | |
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Good morning and happy Friday. It's gonna be a hot one.
The Twin Cities are in a heat warning, and there are heat advisories for most of south central and southwest Minnesota. It'll be sunny in the metro area with highs in the lower 90s and heat indices above 100 in the afternoon. Statewide, expect morning thunderstorms. Then, highs near 90 (except near Lake Superior) with heat indices from 95 to 105 degrees. More on Updraft | Forecast
COVID-19 case counts have jumped again. In addition, the number of those hospitalized but not in intensive care hit its highest amount in a month. Wonder what would've happened if we had a mask mandate months ago...
Health officials are starting to see more cases in 30- and 40-somethings. The increase is due to more people getting together for gatherings and summer activities without social distancing, said Kris Ehresmann, the state's infectious disease director. While it's not the bar-driven spikes seen among 20-somethings, analysts are now seeing a "larger, gradual increase in social activities," Ehresmann said.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics: 48,721 cases confirmed (763 new) via 905,315 tests 1,561 deaths (9 new)4,818 cases requiring hospitalization282 people remain hospitalized; 107 in intensive care42,524 patients no longer requiring isolationIf people across the U.S. begin wearing masks en masse, we could avoid a return to further lockdown. That's according to a hopeful proposition from many prominent scientists. "Look, we've never tried to use masks as our primary strategy when outbreaks are this bad," said Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. "But I do believe that if we want to avoid a complete lockdown, we've got to at least give it a shot."
If 95 percent of people wear masks while they're out interacting with others, it'll reduce COVID-19 transmission by at least 30 percent. Even a 30 percent reduction can have major implications: a person who'd otherwise infect 1.03 others would only pass the coronavirus to 0.72 others, NPR reports. So, that'd give us exponential decay, rather than exponential growth, of infections.
Gov. Tim Walz has set a date to announce his plan for the next school year. June 30, next Thursday, is when the governor is expected to share his plans. “We’re doing everything possible to get those kids back in those classrooms … to keep them there but also have some nimbleness” to move back to an online or hybrid model if cases start to climb, he said, adding: “This is gonna be a challenge.”
Whatever Walz decides, it'll likely have a disproportionate impact on students of color. The reasons why vary, but a Minnesota Department of Education survey found that the majority of Black, Latinx and Asian families do not feel comfortable sending their students back to in-person classes. Check out Elizabeth Shockman's story for a fuller picture.
— Cody Nelson, MPR News | @codyleenelson |
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