For the second week in a row, COVID-19 cases on campus are up. Nine positive tests were reported by the Center for Well-Being last week. The week before, cases grew from to one to five.

The latest report shows most cases occurred on the St. Paul campus and most were students.

With COVID-19 cases rising in many places, governments are facing a hard choice of pushing on with the AstraZeneca vaccine or suspending the use of it over reports of dangerous blood clots in a few recipients, even as the European regulator said there was no indication the shot was responsible.

The number of countries in the bloc that are sticking with the shot is dwindling after heavyweights like Germany, Italy, France and Spain all said they were suspending it.

Many countries are relying heavily on AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to handle than other vaccines. The vaccine has so far played a huge role in the global initiative, COVAX, to ensure vaccines get to less developed countries.

Minnesota men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino was fired Monday after compiling a 54-96 regular-season record over eight years in the Big Ten. During his time the Gophers only finished higher than 10th place three times. The Gophers lost 11 of their last 14 games this season.

Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle called Pitino, “a tremendous person and coach” in a statement distributed by the university.

Max Osborne can be reached at osbo9987@stthomas.edu.