April 30, 2020
Not as sunny, but pretty warm Friday. The start of May doesn’t seem as bright as these two past days, but it won’t be too bad. Friday will be mostly cloudy across Minnesota, with a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms in southern Minnesota. Highs tomorrow will range from the 60s in northwestern Minnesota to the lower 80s in southwest. COVID-19 in Minnesota today: Stay-home order extended; 343 deaths, 5,136 cases. The extended order keeps bars and restaurants takeout-only until May 18, allows nonessential retail businesses to offer curbside pickups, and encourages workers and customers to wear masks when interacting. This amended order lets up to 30,000 Minnesotans safely return to their workplaces, the governor said. This Twin Cities nursing home claims 15 percent of Minnesota’s COVID-19 death toll. In Minnesota, long-term care facilities have accounted for about 80 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths. At St. Therese, a nursing home in New Hope, 47 residents of the 258-bed facility have died of the disease. It has tested all its residents, with the results of the final 25 expected in the next few days. The facility moved all positive residents into unit and wing cohorts. N95 masks, gloves, face shields: What’s behind the PPE shortage in Minnesota, the U.S.? Amid the pandemic, almost all types of PPE are in short supply right now — not just in Minnesota, but around the United States and the world. And many health care workers on the front lines of the outbreak are struggling to secure enough PPE to protect themselves, and some are told to reuse them multiple times. Can hospitals and the state, federal governments just order more and stockpile them? What is Minnesota doing to get more PPE? Here we answer some key questions. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | 