Restaurants face a staffing problem: Unemployment pays better

Showers — and a thunderstorm in southern Minnesota — before warmup. Our average warm May temperatures are on their way back to Minnesota, but before that, Wednesday will be a hump day for our spring weather to go over, with rain across the state. Thunderstorms are also possible along the Minnesota-Iowa border tomorrow. Highs will be in the lower 50s to lower 60s.

COVID-19 in Minnesota today: 12,494 cases confirmed, 614 deaths; No testing for asymptomatic people, yet, officials say . Minnesota will not be opening the door anytime soon for testing of Minnesotans showing no symptoms at all, state health officials said on Tuesday. The state is intensifying its focus now on long-term care facilities where 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths are reported in Minnesota. Officials are also rapidly staffing up on contact tracing investigations with a goal of having 460 people making calls by the end of the week.

Fauci: If America “prematurely opens up,” it will result in “needless suffering and death.” Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers during a remote Senate health committee hearing that the coronavirus is not contained and it will not disappear. “If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to 'Open America Again,' then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country,” he said. The White House guidelines, released in April, call for states or regions to see a downward trajectory of cases or positive tests over two weeks, before moving on to a phased reopening.

When will we be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine? President Trump said that he expects the U.S. to have a vaccine by the end of 2020. So far, it does seem like the vaccine will be developed faster than ever before in vaccine history. It took more than two decades to come up with a successful polio vaccine. Federal health officials suggest a COVID-19 vaccine may be ready in a tenth of that time.

Salute to Minnesota’s front-line workers fighting COVID-19 tomorrow, from the skies. Tomorrow, the Minnesota National Guard will fly in a salute to people fighting the COVID-19 outbreak around the state. Last week, the guard flew a cargo plane and jet fighters over 15 hospitals mostly in the Twin Cities, and this time they are repeating the salute in Greater Minnesota cities such as Aitkin, Jackson, International Falls and Albert Lea.

Opening day of the MLB’s 2020 season in July? If the proposal by the MLB owners is approved, opening day would take place around the July 4 weekend — without fans. Some players are voicing their concerns over how exactly the league would implement safety protocols, such as testing and quarantining.

— Jiwon Choi and Sara Porter, MPR News