May 13, 2020

Welcome back, spring! Showers today will linger into this evening, but the wet and chilly air today is going away, bringing the spring warmth and sunshine back in Minnesota tomorrow. Eastern Minnesota may see some lingering showers tomorrow. Highs Thursday will range from the upper 60s to the mid-70s.

Latest on COVID-19 in MN: Walz ready to end stay-home order, keep dine-out ban. Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency order is set to expire today and the current stay-home order to expire next Monday. Walz will let his stay-at-home order expire as planned on Sunday night, according to multiple people briefed on the governor’s plans.

Walz will discuss his decision and plans during a 6 p.m. address to Minnesotans.Listen live tonight on MPR News.The total number of cases since the pandemic began approached 13,000, and the state’s COVID-19 death toll hit 638 on Wednesday.

110,000 dead by June 6 in the U.S., models project. As of Wednesday, more than 83,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19. Scientists have built dozens of computational models to answer how many more lives will be lost, and the projections vary substantially — with the most pessimistic forecasting a total death toll of 120,000 by June 6 and the most optimistic forecasting 103,000 deaths by that date. But the models have been inching closer to each other.

Loosening restrictions result in case upticks in China and South Korea. The two countries were believed to have been successfully containing the virus. Recently, however, they started to see new cases emerging as social distancing restrictions and lockdown measures got loosened after days of no new cases confirmed.

Have questions about COVID-19 and its impact? Share them with us here.

— Jiwon Choi and Sara Porter, MPR News

Walz ready to end stay-home order, keep dine-out ban

Minnesota is moving to a new phase in its battle with the coronavirus that will enable more businesses to welcome customers back inside. Gov. Tim Walz is expected to brief the state in a 6 p.m. address.

Last week: Deaths in nursing homes spur officials to increase testing, bolster staff levels
As COVID-19 orders set to expire: Pressure on Walz grows
Minnesota retailers reopen: Navigating a new way of doing business
Fauci warns: States not to 'jump over' guidelines to reopening

Different COVID-19 models are starting to agree: 110,000 dead in the U.S. by June 6

Projections of deaths from COVID-19 vary wildly. How are we to make sense of the differences? One researcher has developed one model that compares and merges them all.

Fauci says U.S. death toll is likely higher: Other COVID-19 stats need adjusting, too

SPONSOR

MPR cuts jobs due to funding crunch amid pandemic

Fourteen employees of Minnesota Public Radio’s parent company, American Public Media Group, are voluntarily leaving the company, as it contends with the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frustration and uncertainty as workers wait on unemployment pay

As demand for unemployment benefits has skyrocketed, some workers are anxiously awaiting news of whether they’ll receive benefits from the state.

'I have nothing': A small business owner struggles without first round of funding
Small businesses race to get financial help: Will it be enough to survive?
'It's unfair': Competing against 'essential' big boxes, small retailers cry foul

Your boss is watching you: Work-from-home boom leads to more surveillance

With more people now working from home, employers are increasingly relying on tracking software to monitor what employees do when they're on the clock.

Apple, Google coronavirus tech won't track your location: That worries some states

MN Supreme Court: DNR has power to change Lake Calhoun name to Bde Maka Ska

The 5-2 decision comes two years after the Department of Natural Resources approved the change to the name it has been called by indigenous residents since before the state was founded in 1858.

Photos: Parade honors health care workers in Burnsville

Community members from Burnsville, Apple Valley and Eagan honked horns and waved from decorated cars Tuesday during a parade to thank nurses and other health care workers at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.

‘We can’t even say goodbye’: Judge lost to COVID-19 remembered for wit, compassion

As a rural lawyer and judge, Steven Anderson never sought the limelight. On April 17, he became the first Mille Lacs County resident to die from the coronavirus.

Losing a dad to coronavirus: New Hope man remembers his father
Counter Stories: A personal journey of grief in the era of COVID-19
MPR News with Angela Davis: In a mess of COVID-19 feelings, don’t overlook grief

Preference Center ❘ Unsubscribe

This email was sent by: Minnesota Public Radio
480 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN, 55101