ST PAUL, Minn. — Monday, Oct. 26
- MDH reports 1,578 new COVID cases, four deaths
- Gov. Tim Walz warns Minnesota is at a 'critical' point
- Anoka-Hennepin Schools move to full distance learning, cancel athletics
- 42% increase in Minnesotans getting flu shots at this point in season
- While vaccines are not yet available, MDH is working on a distribution plan
- Officials worry 'COVID fatigue' playing into spike in cases
2 p.m.
Governor Tim Walz joined health officials Monday for a regular briefing call to update the public on the state of COVID-19 spread and response in Minnesota.
Walz told Minnesotans that the state is at a "critical" point in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor said that expanding testing capacity in Minnesota, specifically with saliva testing centers opening throughout the state, is crucial.
"Testing is the key to stopping the chain of virus spread," Walz said.
Walz and health officials met with White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx over the weekend in Rochester.
"She couldn't have been clearer," Walz said. "The upper Midwest is at a critical juncture. Her assessment was that the state of Minnesota and potentially the state of Illionis have the potential to stop what is happening in other states."
Birx said widespread testing, especially among asymptomatic people, is key.
"Our ability to hold the positivity rate gives us a fighting chance here," Walz said. "The virus ... is most dangerous when it's infecting people who don't know they have it."
Walz said the virus is spreading in rural Minnesota as quickly as anywhere else. The infection rates in the upper Midwest are the highest infection rates on the planet right now, the governor said.
He also pointed out that young people who feel they are at a lower risk of becoming severely ill are playing a major part in spreading the virus around Minnesota.
"Whether you have been blessed enough to not have a friend, a neighbor, a family member, an acquaintance infected, it is out there," Walz said.
The governor finished his message with three pleas for Minnesotans:
- Avoid large gatherings and think about even limiting gatherings with family.
- Wear a mask and social distance.
- Test, test, test.
"The next six to 12 weeks are going to be critical," the governor said.
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm echoed Walz's message of urgency.
"Time is really of the essence to double down on those prevention strategies," Malcolm said.
Malcolm said Minnesota has seen a 70% increase in COVID patients requiring hospitalization just in the last month.
She also pointed out that the case growth in Minnesota was 22% from mid-August to mid-September. The growth from mid-September to mid-October was four times higher.
Case growth in the beginning of summer was mostly among younger people, Malcolm said, but now more cases are coming in working-age adults and older.
"Our case growth now is driven by community transmission," Malcolm said.
This makes controlling outbreaks "extremely difficult," Malcolm said.
There have been more than 70 wedding-related outbreaks since June, according to MDH, leading to more than 650 cases. Each one of those people by now could have had a ripple effect of infecting more than 70 other people, Malcolm estimated.
"Heading into the fall when we know there are more respiratory illnesses, more pressures on hospital capacity," Malcolm said, the increasing hospital admissions are concerning.
Malcolm added that there is a concern for spread in school environments, even as officials work hard to prevent outbreaks. Twenty-seven percent of K-12 schools in Minnesota have had at least one case since school began, and currently there are 33 Minnesota schools with five or more cases. Over half of all higher education institutions in Minnesota have had at least one case of COVID-19 since Aug. 1.
In the last week MDH has confirmed two outbreaks in high school sports, and eight suspected outbreaks among both higher education and K-12 sports.
MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann warned that it's not just large gatherings that are causing spread - it's smaller ones.
"The risks are still there, even if you get together with a smaller group of people that you know," Ehresmann said. "Things that may have been relatively safe a month or two ago may no longer be safe."
She said that the rate of community spread right now makes everything higher risk.
"Outside means less risk, but it doesn't mean no risk," Ehresmann said. "Masks mean less risk, but not no risk."
MDH estimates that a single case infects three other people, and within four generations that has an average impact of 71 infections, Ehresmann said.
"We have the capacity to change this trajectory," Walz said. "We can write a different story on what COVID does in Minnesota, but it's going to take all of us."
When asked whether Minnesota will "dial back" and put renewed restrictions on any social or business settings, Walz did not rule any such measures out, but said there is no active plan to do so.
"We certainly always have to be watching," he said. "If this turns bad quickly and we're seeing things that we could do to slow the spread, we will implement those."
However, the governor maintained that a blanket approach would not be needed. He pointed out, for instance, that there has not been much spread in retail settings.
"It's just a matter of using the tools that we have in place, and actually getting adherence up," Walz said.
Those tools, he said, are simple.
"Don't gather in large gatherings, don't go to super spreader events, don't go into businesses without masks on," he said. "We have room to grow here. I'm pretty disappointed ... it appears like there's pretty good reason to believe that we're wearing masks less than the national average."
Walz said his administration has always believed that a shelter-in-place order was not a long-term solution to COVID-19. He said that he believes a national mask mandate would be more effective than a shelter-in-place order, were the federal government to implement one. But Minnesota's long-term strategy has been more about public compliance.
"Manage this with personal behaviors," he said. "Manage it with some limitations on indoor dining, large group gatherings."
Ehresmann said that MDH would like to be able to say "We gave it everything we had with the tools that we had" before they move onto more "painful" options.
"Certainly we are in a very concerning place," Ehresmann said. "But we have tools in our toolbox that we have not fully utilized."
11 a.m.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced Monday that the number of positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Minnesota has increased by 1,578, bringing the cumulative total to 135,372.
Four more people have died, bringing the death total to 2,353.
MDH also said Monday that the total number of tests taken is at 2,710,177.
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.
To date, 9,588 Minnesotans have been hospitalized with the coronavirus since the pandemic started, with 2,558 of them needing care in the ICU.
MDH reports that 120,421 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 16,958 cases and one death, and ages 25-29 follow with
13,156 cases and three deaths. Those between 85 and 89 years old account for the highest number of fatalities in one age group with 411, out of 1,827 confirmed cases.
In terms of likely exposure to the coronavirus, MDH says 34,903 cases were the result of community transmission with no known contact with an infected person, and 30,606 had known contact with a person who has a confirmed case.
A total of 14,763 cases involved exposure in a congregate living setting, 2,539 were in a corrections setting, and 393 were in a homeless shelter. MDH data shows 10,638 were linked to an outbreak outside of congregate living or health care.
MDH says 12,399 cases were linked to travel. Health care workers or patients account for 4,450 of diagnosed COVID-19 cases. The source of transmission for 24,681 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 to be tested. Testing locations can be found online.
Hennepin County has the most cases in the state at 34,290 cases with 991 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 14,168 cases and 361 deaths. Dakota County reports 9,897 cases and 138 deaths.
Cook County in northeastern Minnesota has the least COVID activity with 17 cases and zero deaths, while Kittson County in far northwest Minnesota reports just 42 cases.
Full data, including a breakdown of PCR and antigen test totals in some categories, can be found on MDH's website.
Sunday Oct. 25
2 p.m.
Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (WDHS) reported 3,626 new cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases statewide to 198,166.
Health officials reported eight new deaths on Sunday as the total number of fatalities statewide rises to 1,778. The total number of fatalities is approximately 0.9% of those testing positive for the virus.
Wisconsin health officials say a total of 10,332 people have been hospitalized from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, about 5.2% of the total number of people who have been diagnosed with the virus.
Of the confirmed cases in Wisconsin, 22% involve people between the ages of 20 to 29, 15% are between 30 and 39, 15% are between 50 and 59, and 14% are 40 to 49. An estimated 12% are between 10 and 19, and 10% are between 60 and 69.
As of Sunday, Milwaukee County reported the largest number of cases with 38,960 along with 569 deaths. Brown County has reported 14,580 cases and 89 deaths, and Dane County has reported 14,126 cases and 48 deaths.
11 a.m.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced Sunday that the number of positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Minnesota has increased by 1,684 bringing the cumulative total to 133,802.
Twenty-one more people have died, bringing the death total to 2,349.
MDH also said Sunday that the total number of tests taken is at 2,686,302.
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.
To date, 9,511 Minnesotans have been hospitalized with the coronavirus since the pandemic started, with 2,538 of them needing care in the ICU.
MDH reports that 118,485 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 16,812 cases and one death, and ages 25-29 follow with
13,011 cases and three deaths. Those between 85 and 89 years old account for the highest number of fatalities in one age group at 411 out of 1,797 confirmed cases.
In terms of likely exposure to the coronavirus, MDH says 34,502 cases were the result of community transmission with no known contact with an infected person, and 30,259 had known contact with a person who has a confirmed case.
A total of 14,602 cases involved exposure in a congregate living setting, 2,504 were in a corrections setting, and 391 were in a homeless shelter. MDH data shows 10,638 were linked to an outbreak outside of congregate living or health care.
MDH says 12,238 cases were linked to travel. Health care workers or patients account for 4,409 of diagnosed COVID-19 cases. The source of transmission for 24,259 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 to be tested. Testing locations can be found online.
Hennepin County has the most cases in the state at 33,964 cases with 991 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 13,992 cases and 360 deaths. Dakota County reports 9,799 cases and 138 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.