Good morning and welcome to the week. Weather will go from gray to blue today! A few of last night's showers could linger into this morning. Monday's high will be in the 60s in most areas, with some 50s in far northern Minnesota. Updraft Minnesota's confirmed COVID-19 case count rose by nearly 3,000 over the weekend — the greatest two-day increase of the pandemic to date for our state.
That included a record single-day increase of 1,537 cases on Saturday, as testing also reached record levels. The positivity rate has remained near 5 percent, the threshold of concern for officials as they work to stem the spread of the virus.
The state also saw 20 more COVID-19 deaths over Saturday and Sunday — eight of them residents of long-term care facilities, and the other 12 living in private homes.
Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:
2,141 deaths (10 new)112,268 confirmed cases (1,450 new); 100,171 off isolation2,318,810 tests; 1,578,724 people testedSupreme Court nominee faces Senate despite concerns about the safety of meeting during the pandemic.
Republicans, who control the Senate, are moving fast to seat Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Nov. 3 election to secure Trump's pick and hear a high-profile challenge to the Affordable Care Act and any election-related challenges.
Democrats are trying in vain to delay the fast-track confirmation after two GOP senators on the panel tested positive for the novel coronavirus — those senators have not said yet if they will attend in person.
The nomination is an opportunity to entrench a conservative majority on the court for years to come. Democrats have made clear that they will press Barrett on health care, abortion and other issues where her vote could push the court further to the right.
In other local news from over the weekend:
Two Minnesota United players tested positive for COVID-19, postponing Sunday's match.
Ojibwe artist Sharon Day unveiled a new artwork outside the Minnesota Capitol on Sunday . She was inspired to create the piece in part to give elders and people with health conditions a way to make their voices heard amid the pandemic.
A new memorial in Minneapolis' Boom Island Park is dedicated to survivors of sexual violence. “This memorial represents our willingness to share the burden of pain, to act, engage and remember the reality of sexual violence that has happened and continues to happen here,” said Sarah Super, the driving force behind what is believed to be the first-ever memorial dedicated to survivors of sexual violence.
--Sara Porter, MPR News | 