Not wearing a mask when required? You may actually face penalties

Welcome back, our lovely summer! With sunny skies and pleasantly warm breezes, this week’s weather is a gift to Minnesotans who endured soggy, steamy days for the past couple of weeks. Clear tonight with lows in the 50s to 60s across the state, and tomorrow will be mostly sunny -- besides northeastern Minnesota -- with highs in the lower 70s to the mid-80s.

Not wearing a mask when required? You may actually face some penalties. While officials expect Minnesotans and businesses to voluntarily follow the statewide mask rule, those who don’t comply may receive a citation and a fine up to $100; businesses may be subject to criminal charges, civil fines up to $25,000, and government action to regulate the business. State officials on Monday said they received 80 complaints related to COVID-19 over the weekend, most involving mask rule violations. Officials say their goal is to educate and gain compliance rather than to penalize, but penalties are still possible.

Where masks are required, how the mandate is enforced and more: What you should know about the state’s mask order.

Minnesota’s school decision for fall coming this Thursday. Gov. Tim Walz has suggested in recent days that there won’t be a uniform order that will determine whether school buildings reopen. Officials previously asked schools to prepare for all scenarios, including all in-person, all distance learning, or a mix of both.

What if parents/students don’t want to go to in-person classes? What will schools look like this fall? Here are six things to know about the state’s plan on reopening schools this fall.

Several vaccine candidates, including one in the U.S., enter the final test stage. The world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine study started Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race. Several other vaccines made by China and by Britain's Oxford University earlier this month began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries. If everything goes right with the final studies, it still will take months for the first data to trickle in from the U.S.-based Moderna test, followed by the Oxford one.

— Jiwon Choi, MPR News | @ChoiGEE1