A decent start to the weekend. Twin Cities highs in the lower 50s with nighttime lows in the upper 30s. Statewide, mostly sunny with highs from the lower 40s to lower 50s. ffsaf More on Updraft. | Forecast

Partisan fighting had been mostly absent in discussions over how to contain the coronavirus in Minnesota. That came to a halt Thursday when Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, fired off this tweet: “I do not approve of the Governor’s unilateral decision to continue the order to shelter at home until May 4th. We have to get on with our lives.”

However, with people continuing to get sick and die every day, getting on with our lives isn’t what health experts think we should do. “While these control measures appear to have reduced the number of infections to very low levels, without herd immunity against Covid-19, cases could easily resurge as businesses, factory operations, and schools gradually resume and increase social mixing,” a researcher from Hong Kong told The Guardian . The top infectious disease expert in the U.S. Dr. Anthony Fauci, says we must be cautious in a return to normalcy. The virus “determines the timetable,” he told NBC News.

Gov. Tim Walz said he’s continuing on a cautious path for COVID-19. He’s carrying on with his stay-home order and rush to add hundreds of intensive care beds. “I'm tired of this. I’m frustrated by this. My heart breaks for the people who are worried about their economic well-being,” Walz said. “But you can’t get frustrated, go on a hunch and throw caution to the wind and pretend that our neighbors’ lives are somehow disposable.”

Minnesota had its largest single-day increase in deaths. Between Wednesday and Thursday, the Health Department reported 11 new deaths. 

The latest coronavirus statistics from Thursday: 

• 1,242 cases via 32,294 tests

• 50 deaths

• 293 cases requiring hospitalization

• 145 people remain in the hospital; 63 in intensive care

• 675 patients recovered

You might be wondering, how safe is it to eat takeout? Turns out it’s safe, with proper precautions. NPR writes: “Current guidance from the Food and Drug Administration states that ‘there is no evidence to suggest that food produced in the United States can transmit COVID-19.’ Infectious disease and food safety experts we spoke to say they base their determination that takeout food is safe on decades of research on other coronaviruses, which were first identified in humans in the 1960s.”

How are you connecting with people you don't live with during the stay-at-home order? Tell us here and we may feature it in an upcoming story. 

— Cody Nelson, MPR News