Less cloudy, brighter Wednesday. Most of Minnesota will see sunshine coming back tomorrow with highs in the mid-70s to lower 80s. Eastern Minnesota may see some lingering showers Wednesday morning. For the rest of the week, Minnesota will remain mostly dry, forecasts show.

COVID-19 in Minnesota today: 21,960 confirmed cases; ICU cases hit new daily high. Health officials today reported 18 new deaths, bringing the toll to 899. Currently 570 Minnesotans are hospitalized, 258 of whom are in intensive care -- a new daily high.

Is it safe to take my kids back to day care? What can you do to minimize health risk as children return to child care, camps?  Under Minnesota’s “stay safe” order, child care centers remain open and day camps that provide youth summer programming are allowed. But what if your child comes home with the virus instead of a snotty nose? How do you know your child care provider isn’t an asymptomatic spreader? Here’s some scientific background about COVID-19 and children, and advice from experts to help parents think through the unanswered questions.

You’ll see many numbers related to COVID-19 every day. Here’s a summary by our data reporter of what they mean and which numbers matter most. Every day at 11 a.m., the Minnesota Department of Health releases new data on COVID-19 cases in the state. The updates can be confusing, with dozens of new points of information, missing context, and tons of questions. Here’s a few key figures MPR News data journalist David H. Montgomery looks at each day and his analysis of those numbers. 

Do you have other questions about COVID-19 metrics? Let us know here and we’ll try to answer. 

 — Jiwon Choi, MPR News