March 13, 2020
No big weather drama this weekend. It’ll be pretty chilly but not too cold across Minnesota this weekend. No rain or snow news besides a chance of snow in northwest Minnesota on Sunday. Temps will continue rising early next week, and we may see highs around 50 by Wednesday in the Twin Cities. Gov. Walz: No gatherings over 250 people advised. During a news conference on COVID-19 joined by the state’s health commissioner and attorney general, the governor declared a “peacetime emergency” to heighten the state’s readiness to respond to COVID-19. The moves come as 14 Minnesotans have now tested positive for the novel viral disease. St. Paul schools to resume Monday as the strike called off. The teachers union and the school district reached a tentative contract deal Friday morning that includes wage increases, more social workers, nurses, intervention specialists, psychologists and multilingual staff, and more. Census count started this week. What are Minnesota cities doing to make sure everyone’s counted? Especially for renters -- who account for nearly a quarter of Minnesotans -- living in secured buildings, giving census workers access to their doors could be challenging. So this week, Duluth City Council members passed an ordinance to help census workers avoid the problem. From this newsletter writer: I took a drive-thru COVID-19 test; have been self-quarantining. This week I learned I may have been in close contact with someone at an out-of-town conference who tested positive for the coronavirus. Here’s what I have done since. (Good news: I have tested negative for the virus.) Have you also started to self-quarantine? How has COVID-19 been affecting your work, day-to-day life? We want to hear from you. Share your story with us here.
— Jiwon Choi, MPR News | 