'We're on track to have enough COVID shots for all adults by May'

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The spring thaw brings us the year's first 50s in Minnesota today. It'll be warm and sunny across the state with afternoon highs in the mid-30s in northern Minnesota to the lower 50s in south. Enjoy the warmth! Get the latest on Updraft.

President Biden vows more shots to be delivered to states in the coming weeks, and enough doses to inoculate all American adults by the end of May.

The president's hopeful remarks came yesterday as he announced the partnership between Merck and Johnson & Johnson to help ramp up the production of the J&J's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. The timeframe to secure enough vaccine doses for all U.S. adults by May is two months earlier than previously anticipated. Despite enough supply expected, however, Biden pointed out that injecting doses into arms as swiftly as possible would remain a challenge.

More than half of older Minnesotans and nearly all long-term care residents in the state have received at least their first COVID shots.

We are inching toward the state's goal to vaccinate 70 percent of the current vaccination group, people 65 and older, before expanding the eligibility. About 16.3 percent of Minnesotans age 16 and older — more than 900,000 people — have received at least one dose as of Tuesday's update. With fewer than 500 new cases reported in the latest data, Minnesota now has under 7,000 confirmed active cases -- the number once hovered around 50,000 late last year.

Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics:

A year ago this week, Minnesota reported its first COVID case. How has our life changed since then?

On March 6, 2020, the Minnesota Department of Health confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the state. The infection spread quickly, and by March 15, Gov. Walz closed all public schools. What have we learned about the coronavirus since those first cases and about ourselves during the pandemic? At 11 a.m. this morning, host Angela Davis and reporter Catharine Richert, along with two front-line health care workers, will look back at the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Share your story with us during the live show. What is the most unexpected change you’ve experienced in the last year? Call 651-227-6000 during the 11 a.m. hour or tweet @AngelaDavisMPR to join the conversation.

During last year's civil unrest, St. Paul firefighters had trouble responding to businesses and buildings on fire. This time ahead of the high-profile murder trial, the city's police tackle the problem with new training.

While most of the focus is on Minneapolis where the trial will take place, there’s the possibility of reaction in St. Paul -- we saw several businesses in the city's Midway area burned and damaged last summer following the police killing of George Floyd. The St. Paul Police Department has leased a former Sears building in the city to provide space for officers and fire crews to train themselves so they are better prepared to handle a potentially volatile situation during the trial.

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— Jiwon Choi, MPR News | Find me on Twitter @ChoiGEE1