Author

Rilyn Eischens is a former data reporter for the Minnesota Reformer. Rilyn was born and raised in Minnesota and has worked in newsrooms in the Twin Cities, Iowa, Texas and most recently Virginia, where she covered education for The Staunton News Leader. She's an alumna of the Dow Jones News Fund data journalism program and the Minnesota Daily. When Rilyn isn't in the newsroom, she likes to read, add to her plant collection and try new recipes.
Nearly 20,000 Minnesotans were homeless on any night in 2018, report says
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 26, 2020
Nearly 20,000 Minnesotans were homeless on any given night in 2018, according to a new study released Wednesday. The estimate comes from Wilder Research’s most recent one-day study of homelessness in Minnesota, conducted in 2018. The nonprofit research group counted 10,233 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in October that year, up 10% from […]
Your questions on the Minnesota stay-at-home order answered
By: Ricardo Lopez, Rilyn Eischens and Max Nesterak - March 25, 2020
Why again are we doing this? Gov. Tim Walz warned that if the state did nothing to slow the rate of COVID-19 infections, Minnesota’s death toll could rise to 74,000. The stay-at-home order is intended to buy Minnesota health officials time to build its intensive-care treatment capacity and ramp up testing. I’m running low on […]
Daily COVID-19 tracker: Confirmed cases, testing, layoffs
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 25, 2020
Minnesota reported 31,296 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on June 17. More than 3,600 patients have been hospitalized, and 27,404 have recovered and no longer need to be isolated, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. To date, 1,325 people have died, most of them residents of long-term care or assisted living facilities. Because of limited […]
Gov. Walz says he isn’t ready to issue a shelter-in-place order yet
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 23, 2020
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is not yet prepared to join his counterparts in states like Ohio, Michigan and California who have issued shelter-in-place orders, but he said Monday such an order here would likely have to span at least several weeks to be effective. Walz, who has already taken steps like closing dine-in services at […]
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota reach 115
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 20, 2020
One-hundred-fifteen people in Minnesota have tested positive for COVID-19, the state announced Friday, up from 89 the day before. A total of 3,856 people have been tested, an increase of 818 tests — about 26% — from Thursday, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Officials say the number of confirmed cases is likely an […]
The COVID-19 pandemic could be ‘devastating’ in rural areas
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 19, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is not hitting greater Minnesota as early or as hard as the metro yet, but rural health care systems may be ill-equipped to deal with the outbreak, with fewer health care workers and hospital beds than cities. One-third of Minnesota counties — all of them rural — have fewer than about 25 […]
Minnesota now has 89 confirmed COVID-19 cases
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 19, 2020
The number of confirmed COVID-19 in Minnesota has reached 89, the state announced Thursday, up from 77 the day before. A total of 3,038 people have been tested, an increase of 276 tests, about 9%, from Wednesday according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Officials said the number of confirmed cases is likely an undercount […]
Even optimistic COVID-19 scenarios mean Minnesota hospitals will be overrun, data show
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 17, 2020
Minnesota’s hospitals are not prepared to handle the COVID-19 epidemic, according to data from the Harvard Global Health Institute. Although the state has identified just 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, far more people will fall ill in the coming months, experts believe. The number of people requiring hospitalization here could drastically exceed […]
Minnesota now has 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 17, 2020
Minnesota has 60 positive cases of COVID-19, the state announced Tuesday, up from 54 Monday. To date, approximately 2,336 people have been tested for the novel coronavirus, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The cases are spread across 13 counties: Anoka, Benton, Blue Earth, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, Renville, Stearns, Wright, Waseca and […]
Minnesota now has 54 confirmed cases of COVID-19
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 16, 2020
Fifty-four people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Minnesota, the state announced Monday, up from 35 positive cases Sunday. The state has tested approximately 1,893 people for the virus, according to updated figures from the Minnesota Department of Health. Blue Earth County and Benton County both reported their first known cases Monday. Identified cases in […]
There are as many homeless kids in Minnesota as the population of some small cities
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 9, 2020
More than 9,000 Minnesota students were identified as homeless at the start of the 2019-20 school year, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Education. That’s about as many people who live in cities like Detroit Lakes and Waseca. The proportion of Minnesota students who experience homelessness has hovered around 1% for at least […]
St. Paul teacher pay second-highest in the state
By: Rilyn Eischens - March 5, 2020
The average St. Paul Public Schools teacher salary of $75,199 was one of the highest in Minnesota last year, second only to the average pay in Edina Public Schools, according to data from the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. Their wages relative to their fellow Minnesota teachers may help explain why St. Paul […]