Hundreds of people gathered on the lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol over the weekend to show opposition to COVID-19 shot mandates that have popped up from state and local governments, schools and businesses. There are currently no statewide mask mandates and Governor Tim Walz cautions... "I think that idea that we would crush this and it would go away in its entirety, that's not going to happen, we're not going to get everybody vaccinated we're seeing the variant start to come up, but there's smart things we can do to manage it." Walz is still urging Minnesotans to get vaccinated [...]

While the future of sporting events, including hockey games, is uncertain due to the pandemic, people are still passionate about hockey and some U.S. cities offer a great place for hockey fans to call home.   As NHL teams get ready to hit the rink in the quarantine bubble on August 1st, SmartAsset has uncovered the best hockey towns in the U.S. for the sixth year in a row. Specifically, we analyzed data reflective of hockey fan intensity and quality of life for 113 cities with a professional team (NHL, AHL or ECHL) or a NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey team. [...]

Daily Update: Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths. 31,296 Total positive cases (cumulative) 419 Newly reported cases 12 Newly reported deaths Newly reported cases detail County Number of newly reported cases Anoka 17 Benton 2 Big Stone 1 Blue Earth 5 Carlton 1 Carver 4 Chippewa 1 Chisago 1 Clay 6 Clearwater 1 Cottonwood 4 Crow Wing 1 Dakota 18 Dodge 2 Douglas 3 Faribault 2 Freeborn 13 Goodhue 2 Hennepin 100 Houston 2 Kandiyohi 4 Lake [...]

Expand All    Contract All Daily Update: Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths. 25,870 Total positive cases (cumulative) 372 Newly reported cases 14 Newly reported deaths Newly reported cases detail County Number of newly reported cases Anoka 26 Beltrami 2 Benton 3 Blue Earth 2 Brown 1 Carver 4 Chisago 3 Clay 4 Cottonwood 1 Crow Wing 3 Dakota 20 Goodhue 1 Hennepin 142 Itasca 1 Kandiyohi 1 Le Sueur 2 Lyon 6 Mille Lacs 1 Mower 14 [...]

As growing tensions in the Twin Cities, Mankato and across the nation are seen, we understand concerns people may have. Many are aware that a number of rallies were held over the weekend as a result of George Floyd's death and subsequent events. Most people peacefully voiced their concerns; it's unfortunate that some destructive behavior occurred and some businesses were damaged. Thank you to residents who followed the curfew. It takes a team to provide services, so I want to commend public works and facilities, who assisted with road closures and secured damaged buildings; public information and communication, who helped keep [...]

Updated March 28, 2020 Total positive: 441 Patients who no longer need to be isolated: 220 Total approximate number of completed tests: 16,129 Approximate number of completed tests from the MDH Public Health Lab: 7,290 Approximate number of completed tests from external laboratories: 8,839 Deaths: 5 Total cases requiring hospitalization: 57 Hospitalized as of today: 30 Deaths: 5 Total cases requiring hospitalization: 57 Hospitalized as of today: 30 Numbers are cumulative since Jan. 20, 2020. Number of Positive Results by County County of residence is confirmed during the case interview. At the time of this posting not all interviews have been [...]

The Minnesota Department of Health says there are now 115 positive cases of COVID-19. Kris Ehresman is the infectious disease director of the Minnesota Department of Health. She emphasizes the numbers only say so much. "While we want to be transparent about data on counties where cases reside, " said Ehresman. "This should not be construed to mean that counties that do not have cases are safe or that the 115 cases reported represent the absolute number of cases in our state. Since we have evidence of community spread, it means the virus is circulating in all of our communities." There [...]