The U.S. will reopen its land borders to nonessential travel next month, ending a 19-month freeze due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the country moves to require all international visitors to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Vehicle, rail and ferry travel between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to essential travel, such as trade, since the earliest days of the pandemic.

The new rules, announced Wednesday, will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter the U.S. regardless of the reason for travel starting in early November, when a similar easing of restrictions is set to kick in for air travel into the country.

Gustavus Adolphus college renamed its Linnaeus Arboretum Tuesday, school officials announced.

Its namesake, Carl Linnaeus, an 18th century Swedish botanist has been criticized for classifying humans in a way now seen as racist.
Recently, its namesake Carl Linnaeus has been criticized for his 18th century book “Systema Naturae,” in which he classified four varieties of human, largely based on skin color and geography, which became the basis for scientific racism.

The space has been renamed “The Arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus College.”

Nineteen positive COVID-19 cases were reported to St. Thomas’ Center for Well-Being during the fifth week of classes. Fourteen cases were students and five were employees.

The University Action and Response Team sent an email to the St. Thomas community Monday stating four of the 19 positive cases came from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity on the university’s South Campus.

As of Oct. 11, 92.2% of university employees are vaccinated and 87.8% of students are vaccinated.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported that 3,424,062 Minnesotans have at least one vaccine dose and that 3,254,871 Minnesotans have completed the vaccine series as of Oct. 7, 2021. 70.6% of Minnesotans 18 and older have completed the vaccine series.

Lauren Stanton can be reached at ljstanton@stthomas.edu.