| Evan Frost | MPR News
Nov. 20, 2020 Health care workers plea: 'They don't want to watch you die at Christmas' | |
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Good morning. Expect colder temperatures today, with partly cloudy skies throughout and highs in the mid-20s to lower 30s in northern Minnesota, and mid 40s in southern part of the state. The Twin Cities will see highs in the upper 30s. Find out more from Updraft.
The surge is threatening to overwhelm Minnesota’s health care system, Gov. Tim Walz and executives with two of the state’s major health networks warned Thursday as they pleaded with Minnesotans to take personal responsibility to stem the disease’s spread.
Dr. Cindy Firkins Smith, president of Carris Health CentraCare in Willmar, Minn., said the rising numbers of health care workers unable to work due in some way to COVID-19 had put an unprecedented strain on their systems. They said they needed people to follow state guidelines and stay home for Thanksgiving to avoid spreading the virus.
“The people working in the hospital not only don’t get to celebrate with the people they love, they’re going to be watching people die that day,” said Smith. “And they don't want to watch you die at Christmas. So please don’t (gather). Just this year, please don’t.”
Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:
3,082 deaths249,906 positive cases, 198,365 off isolation3.6 million tests, 2.2 million people tested (about 39 percent of the population) 14.1 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent concerning)With another round of COVID-19 restrictions taking effect late Friday, Minnesota lawmakers are looking for ways to help small businesses that might be forced to close and the employees who would be put out of work. Discussions are already underway about what the state can do and when it could happen.
Many employees at bars and restaurants feel like they’re about to be out of a job again. But this time, they can’t rely on a $600 a week boost that helped keep them financially afloat in the spring.
Minneapolis chef Joseph Jones, 27, has worked in the service industry his entire adult life. Back in March, when restaurants were first ordered to close, Jones and his coworkers were laid off on short notice.
“It was just like, 'Hey, you have a job and now you don't,'” Jones said. “So clearly, it messed with my finances — I had no money.”
The financial boost from unemployment and a $600 a week boost that Congress passed helped Jones ride it out until he found another job. But with the new restrictions on the way, Jones said it feels like he’s about to be out of a job again.
The pandemic is forcing many people to change how and where they work. For one Minnesota-born opera singer, the COVID-19 threat meant a return to her roots.
Dramatic soprano Heather Hjelle was living in Chicago, pursuing a career as a singer and voice teacher when the coronavirus came crashing in early this year.
She grieved the loss of live performance, and she felt some anxiety about the move home. But the past few months, she said, have been a delightful surprise.
"I've actually found it rejuvenating to be in the middle of nowhere,” Hjelle said. “I feel more creative. And I feel that sometimes the city dampens that, the constant rush, having Starbucks in one hand and a doughnut in the other, and my phone under my arm and going a million miles an hour to work three jobs to do the thing.”
The British Arrows — the Walker Art Center annual holiday extravaganza — hit not one but two COVID-19-related speed bumps this year: Not only can’t audiences visit the Walker for hundreds of screenings of the best of British television commercials, but the awards competition it is based on in London was postponed because of the pandemic. But organizers still found a way forward.
Rather than disappoint those legions of fans, co-chai Jani Guest said a “best-of” reel offered online seemed like a no-brainer.
"And we just thought — Wouldn't it be great to give everyone a lovely walk through over an hour or so film?" Guest said.
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-- Matt Mikus, MPR News (@mikusmatt) |
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