State health authorities have been gently asking Minnesotans for months to do their part to help stop the spread of COVID-19, but they are sharpening those messages now as the school year approaches for children and students.
While asking people to do the right thing, they are increasingly frustrated by recent reports of people doing the wrong thing.
Officials have heard anecdotal but “troublesome reports” from parents who want their children back in K-12 school buildings this fall that they choose not to test their children for COVID-19, despite symptoms, for fear that it will hurt the local school’s opportunities to learn personally, said Drs. Ruth Lynfield, the state’s epidemiologist, Wednesday.
“These behaviors are just the wrong thing to do if we want to get the COVID pandemic in Minnesota under control to the point where more personal learning is possible,” she told reporters on a day when the health department reported 17 more deaths – Minnesota’s highest daily count in two months.
Without giving details, she said the health department has been told by “multiple parties” where the virus has been transmitted and repeated concerns about students coming together to party before the school year begins and that COVID-19 could deliver on campuses .
While she and her colleagues have been doing this for months, Lynfield Minnesotans advocates wearing masks in public spaces, staying socially aloof and staying away from large gatherings to limit the spread of the disease, even though they recognized the general fatigue facing Minnesotans who want to return to life for the disease.
“The way out of this mess is clear,” Lynfield said. “Health care professionals and health care providers have their roles to play – and so does every Minnesotan. We need people to do the right thing. ”
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics in Minnesota:
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66,618 cases confirmed (567 new) via 1,308,264 tests (34,867 new)
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1,738 dead (17 new)
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5,988 cases requiring hospitalization
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321 people remain hospitalized; 152 in intensive care
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60,242 patients no longer need isolation
‘Respect the virus’
The state lived in a recent cycle of mostly moderate daily death counts, but an idiosyncratic persistent level of hospitalizations. Although the state may be at or just below the hottest point of the current wave, experts say more waves are coming.
“I really think people should respect the virus, and I think people should be scared about how much community transmission we have now,” Lynfield said Wednesday.
Current hospitalizations remain well below a peak in May, but the count has flattened to a relatively high level – more than 300 daily cases averaged in August.
Businesses in southern Minnesota are growing again
On a regular basis, the Twin Cities and their suburbs have driven the counting of newly reported cases, although there is now an upswing in southern Minnesota.
Businesses in northern Minnesota have been on the rise since the beginning of July. Beltrami County, home of Bemidji, has seen a steady climb in recent weeks. The province reported 281 cases and one death as of Wednesday.
Meatpacking operations were formerly hotspots for major outbreaks in southwest, west-central and central Minnesota earlier in the pandemic.
New cases have slowed sharply in recent weeks, although the problem has recently resurfaced in McLeod County (279 cases), where more than 20 employees at a Seneca Foods factory in Glencoe were recently identified in an outbreak.
Concerns of college grow as autumn semester approaches
Concerns continue about the growth of COVID-19 among younger Minnesotans, including that those infected will spread the virus through insecurity to grandparents and other vulnerable people.
People in their 20s remain the age group with the highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the pandemic – more than 15,000. The median age of cases is 36.
Public health leaders are increasingly concerned about college students attending end-of-summer parties and other gatherings that could fuel the spread of COVID-19 and bring it to campuses this fall.
Clusters of cases continued around late June around college bars, including in Mankato, Minneapolis and St. Louis. Cloud. Concerns about similar potential outbreaks flare up again as the fall semester approaches.
The Department of Health this week provided additional guidance to colleges on ways to reduce COVID-19 risk.
Officials are asking students to isolate themselves for two weeks before returning to campus, noting that the University of North Carolina, Notre Dame and Michigan State have been forced to back down from their plans to teach in person this fall amid campus outbreaks .
While colleges are now working hard to make their schools as safe as possible against the disease, Lynfield on Wednesday urged students and young adults to take personal responsibility for their actions during the COVID-19 era.
“We will not be able to test our way out of this pandemic,” she said. “Having a negative test does not mean that you now have a green light to go and socialize and not keep your distance. We are envious of the kind of messages – ‘Well, you can just keep testing and people can use their BC, before COVID, has behavior.’ We need to work together. ”
Developments from around the state
Sartell HealthPartners clinic closure will cost about 100 jobs
A central clinic in Minnesota is set to lay off about 100 workers as they prepare to close its doors.
The St. Cloud Times reported Wednesday that the Sartell, Minn., HealthPartners clinic will close permanently this month. However, the HealthPartners’ dental clinic in the building will remain open.
Company officials say the closure of clinic will result in about 100 layoffs. They say these workers are encouraged to apply for other positions within the company.
HealthPartners announced in July that it would close seven clinics and two specialty centers in Minnesota, including the facility in Sartell. HealthPartners spokesman Vince Rivard said at the time that the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organization to think about how they can meet patient needs in new ways, as video sites and less physical sites will help reduce costs.
– The Associated Press
Distance classes, one-bedroom rooms: Macalester sets out fall plan
Macalester College prepares first week students to welcome on campus. The president of Macalester College says the school has introduced a number of precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19 infections and transmissions among students starting new week to arrive.
President Suzanne Rivera told MPR News on Wednesday that the first two weeks of instruction will be kept at bay. And students will have the option to continue that kind of learning as the semester goes on, she said.
“This makes education more democratic. It’s more inclusive. It’s more responsive to people who have different learning styles,” Rivera said. “So, I actually hope we retain a lot of this behavior and this new tool that we have placed in our toolboxes because it will make education better.”
She said other precautionary measures include single-occupancy bedrooms and the use of video conferencing technology for both curricular and extracurricular activities. The school will not be able to accommodate all students at once, the president said.
Rivera said Macalester is renting hotel rooms to meet the introduction of more students on campus in October.
– Brandt Williams | MPR News
Top headers
CDC report shows pandemic fuels triple increase in rates of depression, anxiety: A report from this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 41 percent of adults in June reported unusual mental health conditions, with those reporting depression and anxiety tripling from the same time last year. Dr. Jon Hallberg says anyone who needs help would not let the pandemic get to them.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
Data in these graphs are based on cumulative total Minnesota Department of Health cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics about COVID-19 on the Health Department website.
The coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory drops, coughs and niches, similar to the way the flu can spread.
