Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota Department of Health officials, and health care workers are pleading with Minnesotans to follow coronavirus safety guidelines, as Walz hints at a possible future dialing back.
“There’s reasons to be very hopeful. There is light at the end of the tunnel. But I want to be very clear, we need to get all our neighbors to the end of the tunnel,” Walz said Monday.
MDH Commissioner Jan Malcom called the case growth Minnesota’s been experiencing in November “very terrifying” and “alarming.” Minnesota’s averaged 8,000 cases per day for three days. The state could reach 300,000 total confirmed cases by next week after reaching 200,000 five days ago.
Macolm and health officials are now officially advising folks to change traditional Thanksgiving plans saying eating indoors with people you don’t live with is too risky to spread the virus.
“We really need people to reconsider and, frankly, not gather with other households, especially if those households include people in a high-risk category for severe illness,” Malcolm said. “The dramatic change we’ve seen in our cases and hospitalizations just in the last week has changed the way we see so many things right now. The ground is really shifting under our feet and we need to adapt quickly.”
Gov.Walz said more infection means more hospitalizations, more ICU cases and more deaths—strain on the healthcare system that will continue for weeks as cases grow—so it’s critical to take the steps to prevent transmission now.
“Wear your mask and stay healthy for no other reason than it’ll keep you healthy to vote against me in two year isf that’s what it takes,” Walz said. “Just keep yourself healthy and keep others healthy. Whatever motivates you for that is simply the best thing we have at this point in time and will make this better for everyone.”
Walz said mask compliance is around 70 percent statewide, but health officials would like to see 95 percent.
The increasingly urgent calls to follow coronavirus safety guidelines is not just for the health and safety of the community, but for maintaining the integrity of the healthcare system.
Kelly Anaas, a nurse caring for COVID patients at Abbott Northwestern, said if healthcare workers are sick or quarantining due to contact with an infected person in the community, they are not available to care for patients, even non-COVID ones, pointing out that strokes, heart attacks and car crashes don’t pause in a pandemic.
“Up until nine months ago ‘nurse’ was my only professional title,” she said. “Suddenly I had earned a new designation: front line worker. Honestly, I’ve always found this name laughable as it implies that there’s a second lien of us waiting in the wings. Minnesota: we are your only line.”
Walz Monday said it’s “obvious more mitigation” is needed. He hinted officials could soon reveal a possible pause on sports activities. MDH reports 156 separate outbreaks across fall and winter sports at all age levels.
Ten percent of all school cases are associated with sports, according to MDH.
“The number of cases we’ve seen associated with sports has been growing. We are urging there to be a pause on play and practice as well, from our perspective,” Malcolm said. “We’re in dialogue now with our colleagues in education and the High School League. From a health advice standpoint we would really like to see sports put on pause.”
