COVID-19 case rates are rising across Minnesota, and they’re affecting younger Minnesotans, especially middle and high school students.
Minnesota health officials said Thursday that the number of school-related COVID-19 cases reported this week among students has now exceeded the peak seen during a surge of cases in November.
Still, Minnesota Public Radio reported, officials are not planning to issue sweeping recommendations or orders for schools to switch students to distance learning. Instead, they’re ramping up testing opportunities to make it easier for students to get weekly or biweekly COVID-19 tests.
Changes to Minnesota’s Safe Learning Plan — which governs how schools operate throughout the pandemic — mean that, despite record COVID-19 spread among students, more than 90 percent of Minnesota schools are still offering some form of in-person learning to their students.
As the supply of coronavirus vaccine doses in the U.S. outpaces demand, some places around the country are finding there’s such little interest in the shots, they need to turn down shipments.
Louisiana has stopped asking the federal government for its full allotment of COVID-19 vaccine. About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of the vaccine at least once over the past month. And in Mississippi, officials asked the federal government to ship vials in smaller packages so they don’t go to waste.
More than half of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, and President Joe Biden this week celebrated eclipsing 200 million doses administered in his first 100 days in office. He also acknowledged entering a new phase to bolster outreach and overcome hesitancy.
Across the country, pharmacists and public health officials are seeing the demand wane and supplies build up. About half of Iowa’s counties have stopped asking for new doses from the state, and Louisiana didn’t seek shipment of some vaccine doses over the past week.
Some are urging federal officials to send more vaccine to places where there’s demand — rather than allocate them based on population — including Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who said on Thursday they could administer two to three times more doses per day if they had more supply.
St. Thomas Athletics Director Phil Esten extended his invitation in an email on April 14 for St. Thomas community members to join an open discussion with key athletics leaders at noon on April 22 via Zoom and to join an open panel with the commissioners of St. Thomas’ new athletic conferences at noon on May 7.
Esten hopes the St. Thomas community can join these sessions to “see, hear and feel the excitement and energy that comes with this transition,” Esten wrote in the email.
May 7’s open panel will feature commissioner’s Tom Douple of the Summit League, the Pioneer Football League’s Patty Viverito, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s Don Lucia and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Bill Robertson. Those interested in attending can register here.
“I am energized by what lies ahead and I have tremendous gratitude for our coaches, staff, and student-athletes for their resiliency in such an unprecedented year,” Esten wrote in the email.
Emily Haugen can be reached at haug7231@stthomas.edu.