🍂 Delta threatens our fall

Plus: Your guide to the newest food hall | Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios Twin Cities By Torey Van Oot, Nick Halter and Audrey Kennedy ·Aug 18, 2021 It's Wednesday! ☀️ The warm spell continues with sun and a high around 90 today. 📚 Parents: We want to know how you are feeling about the start of school. Excited? Terrified? A little of both? Reply to this email to share your thoughts. Today's newsletter is 982 words, a 4-minute read.     1 big thing: Is fall cancelled? Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   Vaccines gave us our summer back. Now, Delta and other variants are threatening to steal our fall. What's happening: A rise in cases and concerns about Delta's transmissibility have prompted major companies and institutions to reevaluate return-to-office plans and COVID-prevention policies, including mask and vaccine mandates. A number of major employers in the Twin Cities, including Target, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, delayed in-person starts slated for next month. The big picture: It's not just office plans. The return to "normalcy" we all crave could be in jeopardy, especially as the weather turns. We're back in masks in many places and COVID-related anxiety is on the rise, especially among parents. Operators and staff at metro music venues and hospitality companies are worried about more cancellations this fall. A music festival in Brainerd came to an early end after an outbreak among performers. Downtown restaurants, still suffering from pandemic-related staffing and supply chain issues, are bearing the brunt of the office scene's delayed return. Corporate events and conferences have also been slow to pick up. Reality check: We're still in a much better place than we were last year. Even with a spike in cases Tuesday — Minnesota is averaging roughly 1,200 new ones a day — the state's total remains lower than previous waves. Our 70% shot rate for eligible Minnesotans should help shield us from hitting crisis levels seen recently in other states. Plus: While "breakthrough" cases can occur, the vast majority of new positive tests are among the unvaccinated. Yes, but: Children under 12 remain vulnerable. Back-to-school season, combined with more of us heading indoors, could lead to another bump. What we're watching: The Great Minnesota Get-Together, hailed as a "brass ring" of our "post-pandemic summer," is set to start a week from Thursday. It's too soon to say whether the pandemic will hurt attendance at the state fair — or lead to more cases — but COVID-19 is already affecting the event's return, from pushback over policies to struggles to fill vacant jobs. Full story     2. Charted: Our restaurants are still struggling Data: Opentable; Chart: Will Chase/Axios It's been 17 months since the pandemic hit and our restaurants are still struggling to fill tables. Driving the news: OpenTable, the online reservation system, says the number of daily seated diners in the Twin Cities metro has decreased between 32% and 75% since February 2020. Between the lines: The poor numbers — which stayed low even after Minnesota's May 28 lifting of pandemic restrictions — are puzzling given our high vaccination rates and relatively low COVID spread this summer. But the numbers indicate plenty of people just aren't ready to dine out yet, or have newfound concern for the Delta variant. Full story     3. Somebody throw some water on these Twins Jorge Polanco is mobbed by teammates after a walk-off win over Tampa Bay on Sunday. Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images   The Minnesota Twins are on fire. They've won eight of their last 11 games, beating some of the best teams in the league, including Tampa Bay, Houston and the Chicago White Sox. What's happening: Infielder Jorge Polanco, hobbled by a bad ankle the last two years, has returned to his old form: He's hitting .313 with nine home runs over the past 25 games. Plus: A bunch of pitchers you've probably never heard of have stepped up. Yes, but: It's too little, too late. Even after the hot streak the Twins are 15 games out of a playoff berth, with a record of 53-67 after last night's 3-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians.     A message from Facebook Internet regulations are as outdated as dial-up     Facebook supports updated regulations, including four areas where lawmakers can make quick progress: Reforming Section 230. Preventing foreign interference in our elections. Passing federal privacy law. Setting rules that allow people to safely transfer data between services.     4. The Spoon: Feed on this news Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   💦 St. Paul announced new watering restrictions for city residents and nearby suburban customers. Even house numbers water on even days and vice versa. (News release) 🎙️Minnesota GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan addressed mounting personal and professional controversies in two radio interviews. (Fox9) 🏆The Lynx's league-leading winning streak came to an end with a loss to the Connecticut Sun. (Star Tribune) 🏀 The Wolves traded Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez to Memphis in exchange for point guard/tough guy Patrick Beverley. (The Athletic) 🎨 The Star Tribune's art critic visited the traveling "immersive" Van Gogh exhibit that's in town. She hated it. (Star Tribune)     5. Quoted: So what's Tom Bakk going to do in 2022? Sen. Tom Bakk at a press confernece in 2013, when he was DFL majoriity leader. Photo: Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty Images   "I will tell you that Tom Bakk, who was not going to seek reelection, says he is having so much fun he's going to run as a Republican on The Range." — Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake), at a recent GOP fundraising dinner, according to audio obtained by Axios. The intrigue: State Sen. Tom Bakk, a former DFL leader from the Iron Range, left his party to caucus with the Republicans as an independent last year. His alignment helps effectively expand the GOP's narrow majority in the chamber, which will be at stake again in next year's election. Of note: Bakk directed donors attending a recent golf fundraiser to give to either the GOP's Senate Victory Fund or the Koochiching County DFL, per The Minnesota Reformer. What they're saying: Bakk didn't respond to our calls. A legislative aide said he was inaccessible by phone or email. Gazelka declined comment via a spokesperson. What to watch: Bakk's decision whether to run as a Republican will likely hinge on what happens when the new legislative maps are redrawn based on just-released census data.     6. One fun thing to go: The Market at Malcolm Yards The Animal Style cocktail from Boxcar Bar. Photo: Audrey Kennedy/Axios   Audrey recently checked out The Market at Malcolm Yards, a new food hall across from the iconic United Crushers grain silos in Prospect Park. The market has a self-pour beer tap wall, a full bar and nine vendors serving everything from empanadas to charcuterie. The booziest: The Animal Style cocktail from Boxcar Bar. It has gin, vodka, whiskey and pink lemonade, and pairs with fellow vendor Bebe Zito's Animal Frosting ice cream. Proceed with caution — you can barely taste the alcohol. The intriguing: Sake Ceviche from Bagu Sushi. Sliced salmon is doused in a house sauce with shallots, fish roe and edamame. Aesthetically beautiful, but Audrey's not into fish eggs. The best: A charcuterie board from Sunday at the Market. The goat cheese mousse with blueberries wins, hands down. See inside and more food pics on our Axios Twin Cities Instagram page.     A message from Facebook Why Facebook supports reforming Section 230     The internet has changed a lot in the last 25 years — the last time comprehensive internet regulations were passed. Facebook supports updated regulations — like reforming Section 230, to set standards for the way larger tech companies enforce rules about content.   Correction: In yesterday's newsletter, we incorrectly called Superior National Forest Lake Superior National Forest. Thanks for reading! Have a great day. Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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