Welcome to the last day of April and the weekend! A beautiful end to the month, weather-wise. Highs today will be in the mid-60s for most of Minnesota, with clear, sunny skies. It'll get even warmer tomorrow, as 70s and 80s are likely across the state. By Sunday, a storm brings in widespread cloud cover again, along with chances for showers. Get the latest from Updraft. As parents await a vaccine for kids, one family takes part in vaccine research. Only one vaccine has been authorized for kids as young as 16, a group that’s behind much of Minnesota’s COVID-19 spread. But instead of waiting for a vaccine, one Twin Cities family jumped on an early opportunity to participate in vaccine research. "I was nervous, but another thing that helped me be excited to get it was that it's something that will help me take the next step in getting back to normal, to hugging people and seeing people,” said 13-year-old Mirabel Pestel, who along with her younger sister, Aviana, has enrolled in the Moderna vaccine trials for children. Over half of new COVID-19 cases in Minnesota are now from the U.K. variant. The strain, first detected in the U.K., now makes up 60 to 70 percent of new cases in Minnesota. Officials have also seen small but growing numbers of other variants: 88 cases of the South African variant and 65 cases of the Brazilian variant have so far been confirmed in the state. Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics:
7,128 (15 new deaths)573,938 positive cases; 96 percent off isolation About 57 percent of Minnesotans 16 and older have received at least one vaccine dose; 42 percent completely vaccinatedDid you participate in the recent protest in Brooklyn Center? Get tested for COVID-19, and quarantine if you are sick, officials urge. There have been 22 cases tentatively linked to recent protests in Brooklyn Center over the police killing of Daunte Wright. Half of those cases were found among law enforcement. State public health officials say the timing means they'd have been infectious while amid those outdoor crowds, and anyone at the protests should get tested. A new refugee movie, "Limbo," is not about refugees -- it's about people. "Limbo" follows the misadventures of Omar, a Syrian fleeing his country's civil war. Omar finds himself in the wind-swept — and rain-soaked — Western Isles of Scotland, and begins wondering if he’ll ever get home. "This idea that I wanted to make a film about the refugee crisis without making a refugee film," says the writer-director of the movie, Ben Sharrock. "And really, it became this point where it's just a film about people." The movie opens in Minnesota this weekend. ICYMI: A conversation on what Minnesota can do to stop anti-Asian hate. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights has been tracking an uptick in anti-Asian incidents in the state since the start of the pandemic. But this community has endured the effects of racism since long before COVID-19. What’s being done in Minnesota to stop it, and what more needs to be done? How can we be better allies to our Asian American neighbors? Listen to our panel discussion on what’s being done in Minnesota to stop it. 🎧 Here is what's on MPR News today. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | Find me on Twitter @ChoiGEE1.
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