The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Minnesota was announced on March 6, three months after China told the world that patients in Wuhan were sick with pneumonia of unknown cause.
The first case was a Ramsey County senior resident who had disembarked from the COVID-affected Grand Princess cruise ship before being quarantined. For the following week, a Carver County resident who had been in Europe was confirmed to have the virus. So was an Anoka County resident who had been traveling for work.
All three cases occurred in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which was the first place to be affected by the virus. Soon, medium-sized cities began to see coronavirus activity, as well as some rural areas of the state, particularly those with food processing outbreaks. But even months after the virus was first detected in the state, some rural parts of the state still saw a low number of officially confirmed cases.
That started to change in the past few weeks. Now, some Greater Minnesota counties that previously had seen little confirmed coronavirus activity have begun to see increases in cases. And as of last weekend, with one confirmed case in Lake of the Woods county, every Minnesota county has at least one COVID-19 case.
Cities first
The new coronavirus first appeared in major cities in the United States, with a major outbreak in New York City in April. In Minnesota, Hennepin and Ramsey counties were the first centers of the outbreak.
Carrie Henning-Smith, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said this may have given parts of rural America a false sense of security about the virus.
“We know that COVID began in the United States as a clearly urban phenomenon. The first time we found out was in Seattle, New York and New Orleans, ”he said.
“[Since] This took a long time to spread to some rural communities, I think the false sense of security may have increased. I think people looked around and said I’m not sick, none of my neighbors have gotten sick … let’s just go back to normal life, “said Henning-Smith.
That may be changing in some areas now. Mahnomen County in northern Minnesota experienced twice the number of cases per capita between the second and third weeks of July, from 5.4 cases per 10,000 residents to 10.9, the same number of cases per capita as Hennepin County . In Koochiching County, on the Canadian border, new cases went from 10.3 per 10,000 people the week of July 4 to 15 per 10,000 people the following week.
Source: Minnesota Department of Health.
A cluster of cases among youth and higher levels of community transmission has generally raised the level of concern among community members in Beltrami County, home of Bemidji, said Cynthia Borgen, the county’s director of public health.
The county had seen some coronavirus activity before July, but actually saw an increase, from 3.3 new cases per 10,000 residents to 11.1 per 10,000 residents, after July 4, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health. In the last week of data, the number of new confirmed cases had dropped slightly, to 9.5 per 10,000 residents.
“Our initial raise was a group of 20-year-olds,” said Borgen. “Once the restrictions were released and people were at bars, sporting events, recreational leagues, that was the beginning for us.”
Even though cases had been present before, hospitalizations had been few until recently, Borgen said. As of this week, four people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Beltrami County.
“Until now, I think people felt a little bit more like ‘If I get sick, I’m not going to get sick much,'” Borgen said.
“Some of the hospitalizations we’ve had were from people who were quite young and healthy and it’s a community small enough for people to learn who’s in the hospital pretty quickly, even if we do everything we can to prevent something from happening. that comes through formal channels, “she said.
While some community members may not have seen COVID-19 as a major local problem before, “people are realizing that this may be something that could affect me and my loved ones,” Borgen said. .
Before Watonwan County in southern Minnesota saw an outbreak of COVID-19 last month, community health services manager Julia Whitcomb noted some belief in the community that the virus was not a concern in the area .
“We saw some of those beliefs … thinking that it’s not here, so why do I need a mask or why should I follow the social distancing,” he said.
Concern increased as cases increased, but Whitcomb says some resumed the behavior of wearing lax masks before the state mask order went into effect on Saturday.
COVID-19 Policy
While geography is a factor that separates the feelings of some Greater Minnesota residents about the virus from others in the state, it is not the only factor. The pandemic, and its management of the state, has also become highly politicized, with people on the right side of the political spectrum tending to minimize the severity of the virus and the usefulness of interventions such as face masks, while those on the left assume what opposite position
Before a public discussion of a local mask mandate in Alexandria that was scheduled before Governor Tim Walz’s mask mandate and took place this week, city authorities said 286 people contacted the council in favor of a mandate to mask across the city, while 463 people told the council opposed such requirements.
Many of those who opposed the local mask mandate cited low case counts as justification.
“It is not necessary since we have very few cases in our city. I think it will only cause tension between people, ”wrote one who opposed a possible local mandate.
But politics also came into play.
An employee of a senior center in the city wrote using his work email addresses that opposed the mask mandate for political reasons: “This pandemic has become more political than anything else because it is forcing Americans to submit to rules / regulations that do not support the constitution on which this great country was built. “
But as cases increase again nationwide and public health officials, initially often opposed to masks due to a shortage of medical-grade supplies, come to a general consensus that they are effective in stemming the spread of virus, which may also be changing. .
In a Harvard / Harris poll released this week, 79 percent of respondents said they supported a national mask mandate. A Fox poll of Minnesota residents released this month found that the majority of respondents, 85 percent, felt strong or somewhat supportive of Minnesota residents wearing face masks.
County County Case Count
Particularly in summer, Greater Minnesota plays host to tourists from across the state and country. Some residents worry about what that means when it comes to the accuracy of case counts in their areas.
Jen Sumption lives in Longville, Minnesota, home to Woman Chain of Lakes, a major summer tourist destination in Cass County, where there have been 54 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to MDH data, compared to 12 a month ago. .
Last week, he posted a question to the local KAXE radio station during a discussion with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to express concern about how case numbers are reported.
“In rural Minnesota, we have seen an increase in cases, as we saw an increase in out-of-town visitors, also at the opening of fishing and on the weekend of July 4,” he wrote.
If you were a Twin Cities or out-of-state resident who had been traveling to the lake country for generations, she said she would look at the state case map and probably think “Oh, wow, Cass County, pretty consistent low, of low risk. Let’s do it, “he told MinnPost.
But she says the map is not an exact reflection of everyone who has been to Cass County: if people travel north and get sick, whether tests are done in Cass County or in their home countries , your result is associated with your home county.
Sumption told MinnPost that on a trip to the city this week, he saw cars pass by on Highway 84, the main obstacle through the city of 150.
“I would say at least 20 to 25 cars passed by where I could see their labels, and half were out of state,” he said.
You are concerned that these travelers may see the low numbers in Cass County and let their guard down when they visit, believing the virus is not in the community.
“I think it is a false sense of security because the numbers don’t really represent the number of people who are actually infected here,” he said.
Walker Orenstein contributed to this report.
