Latest on COVID-19 in MN: Vaccinations reach new record high - Minnesota Public Radio News

There were 263 people with COVID-19 in Minnesota hospitals as of Thursday; 60 patients needed intensive care.

About 97 percent of Minnesotans known to be infected with COVID-19 in the pandemic have recovered to the point where they no longer need to be isolated.

“The vaccines are coming and continue to increase, and that is fantastic news, but we’re not there yet,” he said, adding, that the state doesn’t have enough people vaccinated “to stop the next wave.”.

Distrust by communities of color “is the thing that has plagued us for some time,” Walz said Tuesday at a briefing promoting vaccinations for people of color.

With kids increasingly returning to school buildings and sports, Minnesota public health officials are urging Minnesota families with children to get tested every two weeks for COVID-19 now until the end of the school year.

Walz on Thursday said 88 percent of the state’s public school districts and charter schools are offering some in-person learning now.

He even suggested the Minnesota State Fair was possible this year.

Walz said the state wouldn’t expand eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines until at least 70 percent of residents age 65 and older get a first dose — a threshold officials expect to reach by the end of March.

Once that threshold has been met, Minnesota will open vaccinations to others based on underlying health conditions and workplace exposure risk, including some 45,000 employees working at Minnesota food processing plants.

A new center at the University of Minnesota will focus on anti-racism research in public health.

Founding director Rachel Hardeman said she hopes the center will strengthen public health education when it comes to racial disparities.

As a Black woman with deep roots in Minnesota, Hardeman said she was passionate about creating a vision that would engage communities in the research and come up with solutions

"Certainly it's not the norm to go into community and say ‘you tell me what we should be asking, you tell me what needs to be done, what do you need to feel safe?’” Hardeman said, “and so much of the knowledge and so much of the solutions are out there but we just haven't asked the right people."

Front-line food plant workers up next for COVID-19 vaccine: Workers at Minnesota’s food processing plants — hit hard by coronavirus early in the pandemic — will be among those next in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine

Biden marks 50M vaccine doses in first 5 weeks in office: On Thursday, President Joe Biden marked the administration of the 50 millionth dose of COVID-19 vaccine since his swearing-in