Good morning. The start of the school is right around the corner for many. But COVID-19 means this back-to-school season will be different throughout the state. Mostly summery Labor Day weekend. The last of the big three summer holiday weekends is almost here. Climatologically, Labor Day weekend is the driest and quietest of the three. This year looks favorable through Sunday overall. An inbound cold front on Labor Day will make that the coolest day this weekend. Read more on Updraft. Gov. Tim Walz says he doesn’t want to impose new curbs on daily life in Minnesota, but as COVID-19 cases climb, he’s warning that Minnesota sits at a “tipping point” in the pandemic and that people must change their behavior or risk a dial back. “My goal is to keep as much open as we have right now, to not have to turn the dial backwards,” Walz told reporters Thursday as he joined a chorus of public health leaders worried the upcoming Labor Day holiday will accelerate that surge of outbreaks across the state fueled by informal gatherings.
Walz said while he wasn’t adding new restrictions now, he and his commissioners are in a regular discussion about the need to balance economic and public health concerns as they track the disease.
“The virus will dictate where we go,” he said, acknowledging that new restrictions would further damage restaurants, bars and other businesses that depend on people gathering in public spaces.
Steep climbs in new cases have led health authorities to sound the alarm this week that the state is on the wrong path as fall turns to winter and that Minnesotans must stay vigilant, wearing masks and socially distancing even at casual meetups with friends and family.
Kris Ehresmann, the state’s infectious disease director, said Health Department analysts know of 56 cases scattered over nine counties ties to a wedding in southwestern Minnesota attended by 275 guests, with many not taking precautions.
"During a pandemic, one person's actions and decisions don't just affect themselves. They affect those around them, at work, at home and everywhere they go," Ehresmann added.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics in Minnesota:78,123 cases confirmed (1,047 new) via 1,540,107 tests (14,552 new) 1,837 deaths (seven new) -
6,592 cases requiring hospitalization 272 currently hospitalized; 138 in intensive care 70,175 patients no longer needing isolation
- As they head back to class next week, some Minnesota educators say they’re far from ready to provide the instruction their students deserve. All three of Minnesota’s options for resuming school involve steep learning curves and little preparation time for teachers and district leaders.
In a normal year, creating an entirely new learning model such as the district’s full-time learning academy would have taken a year to develop, Osseo superintendent Cory McIntyre said. Osseo’s was crafted in about four weeks.
The uncertainty amid the pandemic “pushed many districts like us into giving assignments much, much, much later than we ever have before,” he said. “From a teacher perspective, I totally get their fear, their apprehension.”
“Right now it just kind of feels like I have no idea what I’m doing,” said Maria Higueros-Canny, an instructor at Osseo Area Schools.
-- Matt Mikus, MPR News | @mikusmatt
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