| Welcome to the week. We're in for a pleasant Monday with highs in the 70s, with some spots reaching 80s. There's a slight chance for rain or thunderstorms in southwestern Minnesota tonight. The latest on the Updraft. | | |
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A hospital room sits ready for a COVID-19 patient at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul on March 26, 2020. The state's hospitals are concerned about being able to staff enough beds if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks. Evan Frost | MPR News 2020 |
The state’s Health Department says 95 percent of intensive care unit, or ICU beds are occupied, with 91 percent of hospital beds overall in use. That's as COVID-19 cases continue to tick up due to the delta variant.
But it isn't just COVID patients needing hospitalization.
"Many of them have observed that folks that are in for other conditions are sicker than typical, likely because, not only because, but certainly a factor has been that a lot of care was deferred during the most intense parts of the pandemic," Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said last week.
There's another problem: Many hospitals are short staffed.
Some health care professionals have retired, some just needed to step back from the trauma of treating people in a pandemic and many are taking vacations or longer than normal leaves.
Read more in the full report by Peter Cox. | |
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Marine Corps veteran Dale Watson, 72, of Minneapolis, says it’s difficult for him to make an assessment of what's happened in Afghanistan — other than that it appears there were intelligence failures. Mark Zdechlik | MPR News |
The pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is now into its final stages.
Among Minnesotans at the State Fair over the weekend, many of those willing to talk about the developments in Kabul expressed dismay over the situation.
Seventy-two-year-old Marine Corps veteran Dale Watson, who lives in Minneapolis and has war experience dating back to Vietnam, said that without knowing the details, it’s difficult for him to make an assessment of what's happened in Afghanistan — other than that it appears there were intelligence failures.
“War is ugly. Getting out's going to be dirty. Well, I can understand that," he said. "I'm just angry at the United States in general (and) that we should have never gotten ourselves in that situation again. ... The politicians all get together and they make decisions that take us in the wrong direction. We just shouldn't be there."
Read more reactions in the full story by Mark Zdechlik. | |
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"The Trump administration, with its America First policies and bellicose rhetoric, sent the message that foreign students were not welcome. Then the COVID-19 pandemic shut the country’s borders. Last year’s decline in international students — the U.S. government reported an 18-percent drop in overall student-visa holders and a 72 percent decrease in new enrollments in 2020 — is without precedent.
America’s light was already flickering, however. Today’s students have more options than ever before, around the world and at home. Like their U.S. classmates, they question the cost of college and the return on an American degree. They worry about whether they’d be safe in this country. And for many international students, it’s tough to imagine a future in America because immigration policy gives little preference to those who study here."
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