Good morning, and congratulations for making it to Friday.
Yesterday here I wondered how long it would take for the omicron variant of COVID-19 to turn up in Minnesota. Not long at all, it turns out. Brian Bakst reports: State public health leaders on Thursday confirmed the new omicron COVID-19 variant, identified Wednesday in California, is now in Minnesota. The variant was discovered in a Hennepin County resident who’d traveled recently to New York City, the Minnesota Health Department said. The agency said the person was a man who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and recently received a booster shot. He developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22 and sought testing. The man, whose symptoms have abated, told investigators he’d attended the Anime NYC 2021 convention from Nov. 19-21, a massive gathering that hosted more than 50,000 people. The convention took place days before officials in South Africa reported the new variant. One close contact associated with the omicron patient here has tested positive for COVID, but authorities have not yet been able to evaluate that case for omicron. Several other state cases are being examined now to see if the variant is present. “While this is clearly something to take seriously … it is not a reason for panic,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters Thursday. She implored Minnesotans to stay vigilant against the disease, wear masks in indoor public gathering spaces and get vaccinated.
At an editorial board meeting with The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz said he didn't plan to reinstate his emergency powers in the face of the omicron variant. He said it wasn't a surprise that the variant was detected in Minnesota since the state has one of the strongest sequencing labs in the country. “I don’t think it’s a hair on fire (situation) with omicron, it’s simply execute the plan and the plan is to get as many people boosters as possible, continue to monitor and test as aggressively as we have,” Walz told Forum Communications editors and reporters.
Brian Bakst also had this one: Two tools designed to tamp down COVID-19’s spread in Minnesota got revamped amid the latest surge in cases. A smartphone alert system that had been seeing limited use underwent a recent update to boost notifications. Not long before that, public health officials narrowed contact tracing efforts to focus on the most-concerning patterns. Both moves are on full display as the fast-spreading delta variant continues to feed case growth and the newly emergent omicron variant causes uneasiness as health experts race to learn more about its severity and transmissibility.
If you’re planning your summer vacation you should read this from MPR’s Dan Kraker:The U.S. Forest Service says it’s reducing the number of entry permits into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness next year because of natural resource damage, crowding and congestion, and what a spokesperson called the “overall degradation of the wilderness.” “We're just taking this step for the upcoming 2022 permit season, to see how adjusting the quota helps to reduce some of the damage that we've been seeing,” said Superior National Forest spokesperson Joanna Gilkeson. The Forest Service didn’t say how many permits would be eliminated, nor which entry points into the wilderness would be impacted. Gilkeson said she hopes that information will be released before the end of the year.
The Star Tribune reports a newly-released ethics report raises concerns about the role of John Sample, a part-time staffer for GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn, in questionable spending on taxpayer-funded constituent mail. Hagedorn's spending on the constituent mailings during his first term became an issue ahead of his 2020 re-election victory…The Office of Congressional Ethics found "there is substantial reason to believe that John Sample was involved in and benefited from the use of official funds to procure services from companies owned or controlled by congressional staff members, including himself." Reached by phone this week, Sample declined to comment.
MPR’s Kirstie Marohn reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has formed a 35 member commission to improve public safety in the city. The group's formation follows last month's defeat by Minneapolis voters of a plan to remake policing. "I think that this is a thoughtful approach, because of the fact that we will be strategically and intentionally engaging the community, particularly those who have been impacted by police violence, and community violence, we will be able to research best practices, evidence based practices, and be very strategic in terms of what we recommend to the city to bring about change." said civil rights activist and attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong who will co-chair the group. There's no guarantee the city will adopt all of the group's recommendations, Levy Armstrong said, but she said members will continue to pressure city leaders to ensure that they follow through. | 