| Photo by Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News
May 18, 2020
'Stay safe' order takes effect today, ushering in new rules for Minnesotans' daily lives | | |
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Good morning and welcome to the start of a warm week. Here's what you need to know.
Warmer and sunnier. Twin Cities highs in the upper 60s with nighttime lows near 50. Winds 10 to 15 mph all day. Statewide, mostly sunny aside from the south, where there's a chance of rain in the southeast. Highs from the upper 50s in the southeast to lower 70s in the northwest. More on Updraft | Forecast
Retailers may once again open, but with restrictions. The "stay safe" order takes effect today, allowing retail stores, malls and other businesses to reopen to shoppers if they have social distancing policies in place and operate at 50 percent capacity or less.
Group gatherings of 10 or fewer people are OK now, too. And that includes such gatherings at places of worship. However, you still can't get a haircut, go to the bar or hit the gym. Masks and social distancing remain important, too. Read our FAQ for everything the order allows or bans.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics :
15,668 confirmed cases via 150,605 tests722 deaths2,090 cases requiring hospitalization487 people remain hospitalized; 221 in intensive care10,897 patients recoveredState House Republicans have blocked a bonding bill that DFLers said could help Minnesotans' through the COVID-19 pandemic. The GOP's argument $2 billion is too much. On the other side, DFL representatives argued that the measure would help aging infrastructure and create much-needed jobs.
Minnesota is continuing to do better on testing. The state has once again surpassed Gov. Tim Walz's goal of 5,000 daily tests — reporting 7,324 new tests yesterday.
The coronavirus is becoming a partisan flashpoint that's spawning sometimes-violent conflicts. And as NPR reports, it's taking on many forms: "It's not just the clusters of gun-toting protesters at state capitols. In sporadic incidents across the country, disputes over emergency measures have turned into shootings, fistfights and beatings. Stories abound of intimidation over masking. And armed right-wing groups have threatened contact tracers and people who they say "snitch" on neighbors and businesses violating health orders."
How do we overcome this problem? "If we don't intervene as a nation, as citizens , to begin to correct this identity-based polarization, then the erosion of democratic norms will go even further. And that's the threat of potential social unrest," Tim Phillips, head of the Boston-based nonprofit Beyond Conflict, told NPR.
— Cody Nelson, MPR News | @codyleenelson |
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