Twenty three positive COVID-19 cases were reported last week by St. Thomas’ Center for Well-Being, an increase of eight from the previous week.

More than 7,000 St. Thomas faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students have been at least partially vaccinated according to an email from the University Action and Response team May 6. This figure, which is a 59% vaccination rate, doesn’t include community members that have been vaccinated outside of the state.

Fewer Americans are reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine than just a few months ago, but questions about side effects and how the shots were tested still hold some back, according to a new poll that highlights the challenges at a pivotal moment in the U.S. vaccination campaign.

Just 11% of people who remain unvaccinated say they definitely will get the shot, while 34% say they definitely won’t, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

That leaves a large swath of Americans in the middle who might still roll up their sleeves — including 27% who say they probably will and 27% who say they probably won’t.

More than 150 million people — about 58% of all adults — have received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The St. Thomas men’s hockey team will play Minnesota State University-Mankato as part of Hockey Day Minnesota 2022 outdoors in Mankato next January, the Minnesota Wild and St. Thomas athletics department both announced Monday.

St. Thomas and host MSU will both be part of the brand new Central Collegiate Hockey Association, which will be dropping the puck in 2021.

Madeline Combs can be reached at comb5953@stthomas.edu