(WCCO) Infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Osterholm from the University of Minnesota called into WCCO Monday morning to discuss the latest -- rising -- coronavirus numbers.
"This should not be unexpected," Osterholm said, adding estimates say the United States is at a 7% infection rate currently and "we're going to get to 50-70% one way or another."
In the last 24 hours, Minnesota added 523 more cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths, pushing the state's total to 35,549 cases and 1,425 deaths.
The majority of the deaths have been in long-term care or assisted living facilities.
Meanwhile, on the positive side, hospitalizations for coronavirus trend downward. As of Sunday, 288 people are in the hospital battling COVID-19, with 143 in intensive care.
It's not close to being over, Osterholm cautioned, saying we're in this fight "for at least the next year."
"And so we have a long ways to go. This is just another chapter in what's going to be a very, very long book," he said, adding, "When we start to see an increase in cases ... then testing will become more of a challenge again."
So far, over 585,000 people have been tested for the virus in Minnesota. Of those, more than 30,800 are considered recovered.
