COVID-19: Coverage of the pandemic from MPR News

The latest news, resources, guides and tips to help you stay up to date on the coronavirus pandemic.

What you need to know: Minnesota's vaccine distribution plan
Health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine. Here’s what you need to know about the vaccine and Minnesota’s distribution plan.
Can Minnesota close gaps and lead in early childhood development?
As part of the annual conference for Little Moments Count — an initiative focused on early childhood development — advocates highlighted how racial disparities and COVID-19 are affecting families with young children and what Minnesota needs to do to close the gaps.
State by state, wildly different responses to the same viral outbreak
The United States confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in late January and is now approaching 300,000 deaths from the disease. In the intervening months, the response to the pandemic — from restrictions to testing access — has largely been left up to the states. What do current caseloads and hospitalizations across the country tell us about mitigation efforts?
Feds passed up chance to lock in more Pfizer vaccine doses
The Trump administration's coronavirus vaccine effort is coming under new scrutiny after failing to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of Pfizer's vaccine, which has shown to be highly effective against COVID-19. That decision could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts.
U.S. regulators post positive review of Pfizer vaccine data
Documents released by U.S. regulators Tuesday confirmed that Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine was strongly protective against COVID-19 — offering the world's first detailed look at the evidence behind the shots.
‘Route out’ of pandemic: UK gives 1st COVID-19 vaccine doses
A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday, signaling the start of a global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.
Dec. 8 update on COVID-19 in MN: 22 more deaths; 3K new cases
The newest numbers are part of a crucial week of COVID-19 news and decision-making. Gov. Tim Walz and a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday rallied around a plan for vaccinations expected to start before Christmas.
Hardly any 1918 flu memorials exist. Will we remember COVID-19 differently?
Traditional monuments commemorate politicians or war heroes but rarely victims of disease. We must "mark how profound the catastrophic loss of life has been," says Monument Lab director Paul Farber.