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.

Amid another COVID wave, rural nurses face severe staffing challenges
The omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread rapidly throughout Minnesota, health care providers are swamped, and at Sanford Health, nurses are bearing the brunt of staffing challenges. Erica DeBoer, chief nursing officer for Sanford Health, joined host Cathy Wurzer with more.
St. Paul students demand switch to distance learning for 2 weeks
Hundreds of middle and high school students walked out of class on Tuesday afternoon, decrying unsafe health conditions in buildings and demanding more COVID prevention measures and testing.
Latest on COVID-19 in MN: Signs of a possible peak; 11K pandemic deaths
Minnesota’s newest COVID-19 data remains muddled by post-holiday reporting lags, but Tuesday’s report offers reasons to be hopeful the surge in cases and hospitalizations may be ready to ebb. Deaths, however, continue to mount.
A St. Paul school walkout organizer calls for COVID-19 safety measures
Tuesday afternoon, a number of St. Paul high school and middle school students walked out of class, demanding the city’s public school district do more to keep them safe as COVID-19 case numbers spike.
These are the 5 things needed to stabilize the pandemic in Europe, WHO expert says
The omicron variant has added a lot of uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic. Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, has what he calls five pandemic stabilizers that could help.
In Greece, unvaccinated people ages 60 and up now face monthly fines
The nation imposed the new mandate on Monday as it looks to bring its vaccination rate closer in line with the EU average. The unvaccinated will face penalties starting at 50 euros, or roughly $57.