Monday, Minnesota reported it's first coronavirus-related death in a child, and the state's highest single-day case total since the start of the pandemic. The Minnesota Health Department is saying the trend in-state is upward.
Cases among children and young adults have seen the biggest increases in the state recently. Kris Ehresmann, state infectious disease director, has said it is mostly tied to younger people frequenting restaurants and bars along with other social activities.
Minnesota cases were trending down in early to mid June, and that trend has changed in recent weeks. That is concerning to Dr. David Hilden of Hennepin Healthcare, who spoke to Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News Tuesday.
"Although our absolute numbers are still relatively low, particularly on hospitalizations and deaths, which are the things we really look at it in the healthcare field, our rates are going up," says Hilden. "We still have 200 or 300 in hospitals now with COVID, which is a lot. And that number is going the wrong direction. If you remember the hospitalizations lag behind the cases by two weeks, three weeks, maybe even four weeks, and death behind that even more. They come after the hospitalizations, another two or three weeks. The last seven to 14 days have shown an uptick in those things. We're a little bit concerned that we're heading the wrong way. And we're really hoping that we can turn that around in Minnesota."
Minnesota just recorded its first coronavirus related death in a child, according to the Minnesota Departmen of Health. Health officials say the child was nine months old in clay County, who had they understand no existing health conditions.
Dr. Hilden says it's a reminder that the virus is still dangerous for children."Although children don't tend to get very ill, they do get the virus and it does appear to be more mild in them," Hilden told Dave Lee. "But this just highlights for all of us how serious this virus is. It is not the sniffles. It is not the flu. It is just entirely different. I'm not exactly sure the mechanisms by which children might get ill because their respiratory illnesses aren't as severe. But we have found that the coronavirus can lead to other conditions throughout organs in the body. I'm sure we'll learn much more about how this affects children, but my heart just goes out to that family."
The rise in cases is playing out as Minnesota and Governor Walz are trying to decide the path forward for schools this fall. There has been pressure from the Trump Administration to open schools nationwide. Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka told Dave Lee, "I think the schools should open. I'm very opposed to the Goveernor making a statewide mandate that does not open up the schools. We need to make sure teachers get the resources to get protected, but school is absolutely essential for kids. I'm going to fight for that one."
Yesterday, Wisconin's largest teacher's union called for online classes only across the state.
Walz told WCCO's Dave Lee last week he would like a decision on schools by July 27th. There has also been news surrounding a possible vaccine, something Hilden has been warning is still quite a ways away from being widely available. Just this week, there was a new study out of Oxford that "was safe, and had a strong immune response," according to researchers, along with a couple of other recent studies that have been hopeful for a breakthrough. Hilden says, it will take more time, but there is reason for optimism. "We are following those three studies the most. It it's true that we're going to need more than one of these companies and organizations, or universities, to be successful. We need several vaccines to be developed so that we can get enough doses for it, for the world. But there is room for optimism on the vaccines. I think I've said before with you that I've never seen a vaccine developed within five years. And usually it takes years, or at least I'm not aware of too many where that's the case, and we're only months into this pandemic. And the fact that we're going to phase three trials on vaccines is exceptionally good news."Hilden also says you should still be diligent with following CDC and state guidelines in order to slow the spread of the virus, vaccine or not."We do need to be realistic," says Hilden, who is the host of WCCO's Healthy Matters on Sunday morning. "We have to still do all the things, keeping our distance and washing our hands, and not congregating indoors with people who aren't in our households. And yes, indeed, by wearing masks, That's still very important. The data on wearing masks has become more clear that it's important to do that."