For one thing, students are back in classrooms. For another, the delta variant is far more contagious than the original strain of coronavirus Minnesota saw last fall.
In previous waves of COVID-19 infections in Minnesota, increased hospitalizations were soon followed by increased daily death tolls. Not this time, so far.
As the prospect of sharing a holiday dinner table draws nearer, MinnPost talked to medical professionals about how to talk to people who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19 about getting vaccinated.
Minnesota is the second-largest hog producing state in the nation, and a lot of that meat is sold in California, where voters recently changed the rules on what kind of pork can be sold in the state.
While data do show greater risk of transmission for the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, vaccines remain an effective protection against the disease.
Officials said the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, believed to be both more transmissible and more severe, now makes up about 75 percent of COVID-19 cases in the state.
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