Monday, Nov. 30
- 1,840 Minnesotans hospitalized due to COVID, metro hospitals nearly full
- Experts concerned about another surge after Thanksgiving travel, gatherings
- MDH expects to see potential impact of Thanksgiving gatherings on hospitalizations in 2-4 weeks
- Moderna asking regulators to OK its vaccine
- Minnesota hits another record in COVID-19 deaths over holiday weekend
2 p.m.
Gov. Tim Walz held a news conference Monday afternoon to give an update on COVID-19 after a holiday weekend that health officials fear will prompt a new surge in the virus.
"I want to thank everyone who made that effort to socially distance, to stay with your family," Walz said.
The governor said they knew Thanksgiving would be "a tough weekend and the numbers seem to show that."
The governor reminded Minnesotans that the state saw a new single-day record in deaths over the weekend.
"When we passed 101 deaths for one day, it's very shocking to the system, and for each of those families who lost someone," Walz said.
Gov. Walz said he and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm plan to begin offering deep-dives on the data every Monday as the virus surges.
Walz said that there is always a data lag between new cases, new hospitalizations and new deaths.
"Where are we at in that process?" he said. "If the direction is going from 5% positivity to 15% positivity, obviously that's going the wrong way."
Minnesota is in the midst of a four-week pause on social gatherings, dine-in restaurant service and other restrictions Gov. Walz implemented ahead of Thanksgiving. Despite federal and local official recommendations to stay home over the holiday weekend, on Sunday the U.S. saw its busiest air travel day since the pandemic began.
Commissioner Malcolm called the record 101 deaths announced Friday "startling." Because there was no data reported Thursday, on Thanksgiving, that number reflected the deaths that were recorded on Wednesday.
Malcolm said that it's important to zoom out and look at high-level trends in the data, especially on days like Monday, which showed a relatively low total of 15 deaths.
"It's human nature for all of us to really glom onto that daily data and look for significance in a given day's number, especially when it's progress," Malcolm said. "But we do need to look at each day in the context of trends."
She pointed out that though 2020 seems long, it's been only nine months since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Minnesota.
"This remains a very new virus," Malcolm said. "And while we've learned a lot, there is still much more to learn."
Malcolm talked through some of the peaks and valleys of the pandemic thus far in Minnesota.
"We went over the 300,000 case mark this past weekend," she said. That only took two weeks after hitting 200,000 cases, and Malcolm said Minnesota is likely to hit 400,000 case in the next couple of weeks.
Malcolm said that "things that seemed relatively safe even in August, or even in early October" are now much more risky going into December.
The commissioner said that it remains to be seen if Minnesota is coming down from a peak, or if the state and the country are just in a "wave pattern."
While the test positivity rate is increasing, Malcolm said hospitalizations and deaths have also seen a sharp increase.
"More than a third of Minnesota counties have now had case rates of over 100 weekly cases per 100,000 people," Malcolm said. The high-risk threshold for rapid rate of growth is 10 per 100,000.
The number of people admitted to the hospital since mid-October has tripled, Malcolm said, "far overshadowing" what Minnesota saw in May.
"There are many who will need extra care for serious illness and many having long-term health effects," Malcolm said. "If any of us gets COVID and we don't get seriously ill, we can still pass it onto someone who does get seriously sick or even die."
Malcolm said that people not taking the virus seriously because they see themselves as low risk "is a gamble that we and the people we love may end up regretting."
Minnesota hospitals are seeing "real capacity constraints" and a lot of pressure from all the COVID-19 admissions.
"It's becoming more difficult and (they're) needing to move patients farther and farther away from their homes to get the level of care they need," Malcolm said. "Many of them are at or almost at capacity recently."
That capacity problem is not just caused by a lack of available beds, Malcolm clarified, but with a lack of health care workers to staff them.
Malcolm also warned that the high rates of community spread are beginning to overflow into long-term care facilities.
"We see cases trending up" in all different types of assisted living facilities, Malcolm said. She said assisted living facilities had over 4,000 resident cases as of Nov. 29.
Malcolm said that with the recent growth in cases, Minnesota is likely to continue seeing an increase in deaths in the upcoming weeks.
"This is the worst spot we've been in since March, and that's what the data tells us," she said. "We know that COVID-19 is a major problem all across the country. Even so, the upper Midwest has been hit particularly hard these recent weeks."
Malcolm said that while Minnesota was once doing better than many other states, "unfortunately that's now changed." Minnesota's rate of case growth means it now has more cases per population than New York, Florida, Arizona or Texas.
"We are a hot spot," she said.
Malcolm urged Minnesotans to refrain from gathering for the holidays, knowing that the restrictions will not last forever.
"We now know that there is light at the end of this tunnel," she said. "We know that we can look forward to better days in 2021. But we want to get to that point as quickly, and with as many of our fellow Minnesotans not only alive, but healthy, as we can."
MDH expects any potential impact of Thanksgiving gatherings to be felt on hospitalizations in two to four weeks, Malcolm said.
"For those who did gather, we would obviously urge people to keep close track of their symptoms and consider getting a test five to seven days after you had that gathering," she said. "People can then isolate and quarantine as needed."
Hospitals keep reinforcing that "really there is no breaking point" in their conversations with MDH about capacity, Malcolm said.
"They will continue to adjust every day, every shift as they need to," she said. "But what it does mean is that care that can be deferred, gets deferred. ... Our systems are working just incredibly hard to make the most of the capacity that they have."
Malcolm said that hospitals will continue to treat the most urgent cases, but that will come at the cost of deferring less urgent care, and moving people farther and farther away from home in order to find that care for them.
Walz said that "anecdotally" it looks like Minnesotans did fairly well staying home for Thanksgiving, while travel numbers nationwide were high.
"I think the guidance around Thanksgiving is going to be very similar around Christmas," he said. In the next four weeks, Walz said, he does not anticipate enough of an improvement in the circumstances for that to change.
Walz said he believes that getting the vaccine distributed will take months, into March and April, even if it starts rolling out by the end of the year.
Gov. Walz addressed a question about allowing cocktails-to-go for struggling bars and restaurants, saying that it's an issue that should be handled by the state legislature instead of an executive order. Walz said he would support them if they came to an agreement on it.
Walz said Minnesota is actively working on a plan for ethical vaccine distribution. Commissioner Malcolm added that the state will have a role in "customizing" the federal guidelines, but there will be a framework coming down from the federal government.
MDH has asked the federal government to make that framework as specific as possible "in the interest of time," Malcolm said.
11 a.m.
Hospitals in the Twin Cities metro are nearly full as health care workers brace for another potential surge of COVID-19 patients stemming from holiday gatherings.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported 5,801 new COVID cases and 15 more deaths from the virus on Monday.
That brings the total number of cases in Minnesota since the pandemic began to 318,763, and the number of fatalities to 3,593.
MDH keeps track of both PCR test results and antigen test results. Of Monday's 5,801 new cases, 5,493 were from PCR tests - considered "confirmed" cases - and 308 were from antigen tests, considered "probable" cases.
As of Sunday, the most recent numbers available, 1,840 hospital beds across Minnesota were in use by COVID-19 patients. Three hundred ninety-two of those were in the ICU. So far 16,791 of Minnesota's total coronavirus cases have been hospitalized, 3,779 of those requiring intensive care.
Public MDH data shows 25 ICU beds and 100 total non-ICU hospital beds currently available in the metro. Although that's more than the three ICU beds available in northwestern Minnesota and the four available in south central Minnesota, it's a much smaller percentage of total beds. In the metro, that means only 3.6% of ICU beds are currently open, and 2.7% of regular hospital beds. More hospital capacity data can be found on the MDH website.
Health officials in Minnesota and nationally have warned of another COVID-19 surge and further strain on the hospital system, after many families and friends were expected to gather for Thanksgiving despite recommendations from federal and state health officials to do otherwise.
The most common cause of transmission for Minnesota COVID-19 cases is community spread with no known contact with a case, making up 58,433 of the cases. People who had known contact with a case represent 52,221 cases.
Health officials are still working to find the source of transmission for 135,522 cases, a number that has kept growing as the rate of case growth has risen.
Hennepin County has the most cases in the state with 67,336 and 1,116 deaths from the virus, followed by Ramsey County with 28,256 cases and 505 deaths. Anoka and Dakota Counties have recorded 22,583 and 22,414 cases respectively.
Young adults remain the age group with the most coronavirus cases, a fact that led Gov. Tim Walz to target recent restrictions at the places where those people are believed to be gathering. As of Monday, 34,122 cases had been confirmed among people ages 20-24, with only two deaths in that group.
Sunday, Nov. 29
2 p.m.
The Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (WDHS) reported 3,831 new cases Sunday, bringing the total number of cases statewide to 384,701.
Health officials reported 22 new deaths on Sunday as the total number of fatalities in Wisconsin rose to 3,307, which is approximately 0.9% of those testing positive for the virus.
Due to high case numbers, Gov. Tony Evers issued a new emergency order mandating indoor face coverings on Friday, Nov. 20 that will last 60 days.
On Oct. 6, Gov. Evers' administration issued a new order limiting the size of public indoor gatherings to 25% of capacity, to stem the spread of COVID-19. That order was struck down on Oct. 13 by a judge in Sawyer County. The order was reinstated on Oct. 19 by a Barron County judge, but on Oct. 23, a Wisconsin appeals court put a hold on the order.
Wisconsin health officials say a total of 16,999 people have been hospitalized from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, about 4.4% of the total number of people who have been diagnosed with the virus.
Of the confirmed cases in Wisconsin, 20% involve people between the ages of 20 to 29, 16% are between 30 and 39, 15% are between 50 and 59, and 14% are 40 to 49. An estimated 11% are between 10 and 19, and another 11% are between 60 and 69.
As of Sunday, Milwaukee County reported the largest number of confirmed cases with 67,831, along with 735 deaths. Dane County has reported 27,236 confirmed cases and 80 deaths, Waukesha County has reported 25,944 confirmed cases and 195 deaths, and Brown County has reported 22,536 cases and 137 deaths.
A more detailed breakdown of cases by county can be found on the DHS website.
11 a.m.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported 8,953 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, along with 57 new deaths.
MDH's COVID-19 case definition was recently updated to include antigen testing. Previously, cases were only reported through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases, while positive antigen test results are considered probable cases.
MDH will combine these totals for its death, hospitalization and demographic reporting. The department will report the numbers separately for some other areas, like newly reported cases and total cases by county of residence.
Sunday's new case total includes 8,680 confirmed cases and 273 probable cases.
The total number of Minnesotans who have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began is now 312,969 with 6,366 of those as antigen test results.
MDH says 57 new deaths from the virus were reported which pushes the total number of fatalities in Minnesota to 3,578.
To date, 16,643 Minnesotans have been hospitalized with the coronavirus since the pandemic started, with 3,750 of them needing care in the ICU.
MDH reports that 265,223 people once diagnosed with the virus have recovered enough that they no longer need isolation.
Of those who have tested positive, people between the ages of 20-24 account for the most cases with 33,637 cases and two deaths, and ages 25-29 follow with
28,711 cases and four deaths. Those between 85 and 89 years old account for the highest number of fatalities in one age group with 665 out of 3,924 cases.
In terms of likely exposure to the coronavirus, MDH says 57,411 cases were the result of community transmission with no known contact with an infected person, and 51,306 had known contact with a person who has a confirmed case.
A total of 24,449 cases involved exposure in a congregate living setting, 5,230
were in a corrections setting, and 516 were in a homeless shelter. MDH data shows 14,930 were linked to an outbreak outside of congregate living or health care.
MDH says 18,473 cases were linked to travel. Health care workers or patients account for 8,080 of diagnosed COVID-19 cases. The source of transmission for 132,574 cases is still unknown or missing.
MDH has prioritized testing for people in congregate care, hospitalized patients and health care workers, which may impact the scale of those numbers. However, now MDH is urging anyone who is symptomatic or even asymptomatic to be tested. Testing locations can be found online.
Hennepin County has the most COVID activity in the state with 65,127 cases and 1,115 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 27,106 cases and 505 deaths, Dakota County with 21,636 cases and 190 deaths, and Anoka County with 21,081 cases and 228 deaths.
Full data, including a breakdown of PCR and antigen test totals in some categories, can be found on MDH's website.
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The state of Minnesota has set up a data portal online at mn.gov/covid19.