Feb. 1, 2021
Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with patchy freezing fog west and south. Lows will be 5 to 15. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with highs in the mid 20s to lower 30s. And MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner says this weekend could be the coldest weather of the winter, with temperatures hitting 20 below in the Twin Cities and 40 below up north. Find the latest from Updraft. The state is taking a third try in as many weeks at holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics. This time they plan to dispense 35,000 doses of vaccine over several days. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm explained the state is setting up a new system to look for vaccines. "The new online vaccine locator map is intended to make it easier for folks to know where vaccine is going around Minnesota so they can see how this vaccine ecosystem that we keep talking about, what that looks like geographically," Malcolm said, "and that map will continue to expand and fill in as more vaccine becomes available." That map will include three large scale vaccination sites, including one in Minneapolis, one in Duluth and a third to be located in southern Minnesota. Health officials are planning to shut down nine different community vaccination sites, after they administer 2nd doses to those who already visited the sites. The state also changed the company administering its community vaccination program, after the initial provider erroneously sent out thousands of cancellation notices over the weekend.
In other COVID-19 news, there were some hopeful signs in the latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health, including the lowest daily death toll in months.
The health department reported 8,906 known active cases — the first time since early October the state had fewer that 9,000 active cases and far lower than in late November when the count hovered around 50,000.
The numbers also continue to look good on hospitalizations — 387 Minnesotans were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, with 92 needing intensive care.
Two newly reported deaths raised Minnesota’s toll to 6,202.
You can get more of the latest news, in just a few minutes, via the Minnesota Today podcast. — Tim Nelson | MPR News | 