Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

Covid-19 case counts are trending up in the state and region after a month of respite. Hospitalizations are also on the rise, but the cases seen are less severe, said Rick Breuer, CEO of Cloquet’s Community Memorial Hospital. More people are being... Full story

St. Luke’s hospital in Duluth is welcoming new participants to a study with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and five other research sites across the country to study how Covid-19 moves through populations of people. Healthcare... Full story

It was a quiet Friday afternoon, until it wasn’t. On Friday, March 6, 2020 — the Minnesota Department of Health announced the first case of Covid-19 had been confirmed in Minnesota. It set off a whirlwind of drastic change in the state,... Full story

Local Covid-19 case numbers continue to decline dramatically, with the most recent weekly numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health report (released every Thursday) showing an increase of only 42 cases from Feb. 24 to March 3. That same week,... Full story

Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com courtesy of the federal government. Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits to order. • Limit of one order per residential address; • One order includes 4... Full story

Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com courtesy of the federal government. Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits to order. • Limit of one order per residential address; • One order includes 4... Full story

Esko senior Nate Rengo has been vocal about mask wearing at the high school, saying he advocates taking any “proactive” measures to avoid a school shutdown and missing school events in his final year. After a board meeting earlier in January...

Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of four free at-home tests from USPS.com courtesy of the federal government. Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits to order. Here’s what you need to know about your order: Limit of one order... Full story

Carlton County Public Health and Human Services will hold a free Moderna booster clinic 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 in the second-floor conference room at the Carlton County Community Services Building, 14 N. 11th St., Cloquet. Registration... Full story

Households in the U.S. can order one set of four free at-home tests from USPS.com, courtesy of the federal government. Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits to order. Here’s what you need to know about your order: • Limit one order per... Full story

For the first time since Covid-19 arrived, new infections in Minnesota are topping 10,000 a day. And those are just the folks who are getting lab tests. That number does not count the number of people using at-home Covid-19 tests. “All five of the...  Website

Since the end of last year, Carlton County has recorded 246 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths. The cumulative numbers since the start of the pandemic as of Wednesday are 6,361 cases and 82 deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. As o... Full story

Raiter Clinic – Cloquet Call 218-879-1271 for appt. PCR test, 3-5 days for results. MedExpress – Cloquet Call 218-878-7903 when you arrive at the parking lot. Tests are first come, first served. Wait times may be up to 1-3 hours. Offers both... Full story

With the more highly transmissible Omicron variant now the dominant Covid-19 strain across the state and much of the country and world, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new quarantine guidelines Monday. According to a media... Full story

Community Memorial Hospital CEO Rick Breuer confirmed that the Cloquet hospital has been at capacity for much of the past month, but said Covid is not the only cause. Probably between one-quarter and one-third on the inpatient side of things are Covi... Full story

Infected Minnesota resident recently returned from domestic travel; variant was found through MDH variant surveillance program, which is one of the strongest surveillance programs in the nation The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced Thurs... Full story

Community transmission of Covid-19 locally and statewide has been consistently “high” since August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it’s not getting any better yet. Like last winter, cases are climbing as the... Full story

U.S. regulators on Friday opened up Covid-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that may worsen with the holidays. While all three vaccines used in the...  Website

Monday’s Wrenshall school board meeting began with a palpable moment of silence. Superintendent Kim Belcastro said the family of board member Alice Kloepke reported she had taken a turn for the worse in a battle with Covid-19 and was in an... Full story

A year ago, almost all of Chey Eisenman’s car service customers wore masks. “We were at almost 100 percent of people — regardless of how they felt about COVID or masks — were wearing them,” she said. “And that was fascinating to me. And... Full story