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Med City Beat is a Rochester-based news project rooted in fairness, transparency and civic responsibility.
Est. 2014
Five weeks after it first began deferring elective procedures, Mayo Clinic says its hospitals are slowly beginning to welcome back greater numbers of non-Covid-19 patients for cancer and other surgical procedures.
The extension means most non-essential businesses, including restaurants, bars and salons, will remain closed until at least then. The state’s stay-at-home order has been in effect since March 28. Restaurants and other public venues, like libraries and gyms, have been shuttered since March 17.
One of the most damning responses to Pence’s Rochester visit came from Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, who skewered the Clinic for what he perceived as cowering to Pence and the Trump administration.
After months of consternation over the best location for a new middle school, the Rochester School Board finalized a deal Tuesday night to purchase 40 acres of land in northwest Rochester.
Dr. Andrew Badley, chair of Mayo’s Covid-19 task force, told the vice president Tuesday that of the nine drugs being investigated as potential treatments, three to four are showing signals of activity.
Vice President Mike Pence, appointed by President Trump as head of the White House’s coronavirus task force, was in Rochester Tuesday, touring Mayo Clinic’s Covid-19 testing and treatment facilities. The high-profile visit came as the United States crossed the 1 million case plateau, becoming the first country to publicly report such a number.
There’s a faint light at the end of the tunnel, but the goalposts still shift on an almost daily basis. In the interim, businesses are at once preparing for a new normal, whereby social distancing remains a priority, while also taking creative measures to stay afloat until they are allowed to re-open to guests.
The news comes as declines in tourism continue to drive down demand for hotel rooms. Recent figures show occupancy down nationwide by 69.8 percent to 21 percent. Revenue per available room is down 83.6 percent.
Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern and Minneapolis Super Bowl LII organizer Maureen Bausch will headline a webinar series this week focused on helping Rochester business owners think past the pandemic.
The Clinic is now conducting at least seven clinical trials into potential treatment options; leading a national trial into the use of convalescent plasma to treat patients hospitalized with Covid-19; leveraging artificial intelligence to predict virus hot spots; studying health disparities among various populations; exploring paths toward a vaccine; and processing thousands of samples a day using serological and molecular tests.
The Mobile Outreach Unit, or MOU — lovingly pronounced “Moe” — provides essential supplies like clothing, single-serve food, and personal hygiene products to individuals experiencing homelessness in the greater Rochester area.
The furloughs will begin early next month and will be spread through the rest of the year, with “as many as possible happening through August,” a spokesperson said.
Speaking Wednesday, Walz said by leveraging the state’s healthcare systems, Minnesota may wind up with the largest testing capacity in the nation, if not the world, and provide a model for other areas looking for a way to navigate through the global pandemic.
We wanted to check in with teachers and administrators in Rochester Public Schools to understand the various ways their jobs have changed since the onset of the pandemic, what they’ll take away from the experience, and what the public should know about the current education situation. Here are a few snippets of what we learned.
The Rochester City Council voted 6-1 to deny Rochester Public Schools a request to annex 80 acres of land for a new middle school. The vote was a major blow for the district, which had been unwavering in its preference for the property, known as Hart Farm.
Another local hospital system is announcing major financial losses and staff furloughs as a result of the Covid-19 economic slowdown.
Tonic Juice Bar will not re-open following the statewide shutdown, its owners announced Friday. The business had been serving up nourishing smoothies and sandwiches out of its Second Street storefront since 2013.
Olmsted County Public Health, Olmsted Medical Center and Mayo Clinic are working cooperatively to remind the public that emergency services are still available, regardless of whether the case is Covid-19-related.
It’s a question we have been asked multiple times over the past month: why are Olmsted County’s Covid-19 case totals so much greater than the totals from the surrounding areas?
Echo Church and Pasquale’s Neighborhood Pizzeria teamed up to form the “Dinner on Us” campaign, which offers a free large pizza to Rochester’s teachers, administrators and school employees.
