Gov. Tim Walz said Monday the next few weeks are a “goal-line stand” in Minnesota’s battle against COVID-19.
Infection rates in the Upper Midwest are the latest surge.
“We can’t overwhelm hospitals,” Walz said. “We can’t assume that the therapeutics are going to take care of it or wait for a vaccine that will eventually come. We need to take action right now.”
Walz said we’re at “a critical point” in the pandemic and we as a state can either change course from our neighbors by “doubling down” on preventing the spread, or the situation will further devolve into an unknown winter.
“I am with everyone else, the desire to get back to normal and what’s now being called ‘COVID fatigue’ is real, but just because we want it to be over does not make it over,” he said.
Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said case growth between mid-September to Mid-october was over 80 percent -- four times the growth of the month prior. Those requiring hospitalizations have increased 70 percent in the last month to 582, according to MDH.
“It took us two months to have our first 10,000 cases,” she said. “We have 10,000 cases a week ago and we’re going higher yet, so the speed of case growth is really something notable, and we’ve certainly talked in the past that part of that is we’re testing a whole lot more, we’re finding a whole lot more. But as we keep reinforcing: because the case positivity rate going up, not down, and because of growth rate of cases of cases is going up faster than the rate of testing, we know this is not just an artifact of testing more, but that there is more disease out there around our state.”
In Rochester last weekend, the White House’s top coronavirus advisor, Dr. Deborah Birx expressed deep concern about the region. She praised Minnesota’s expanded testing, which, after the opening of a lab in Oakdale and more saliva testing locations to come including four more in the metro, Minnesota will be able to test up to 60,000 people a day.
MDH officials are particularly concerned about rural Minnesota.
“More recently the case growth has been even more pronounced in Greater Minnesota, particularly the western half of the state where both case growth and hospitalizations are highest,” Malcolm said. “Part of the challenges in these areas is proximity to neighboring states with high case growth. But, in general, we also see higher case numbers in the areas of our state that are also reporting more resistance to following the public health guidance of avoiding large gatherings, keeping social distance, and resistance to masking.”
The surge is fueled by community transmission, according to MDH. There have been more than 70 outbreaks from Minnesota weddings, infecting 600 people in attendance -- and even more who weren’t there. But officials say it’s also small gatherings that can pose a threat of spread.
State Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said based on the level of community transmission, “things that were relatively safe a month or two ago, may no longer be safe.”
“Remember that fewer people means less risk,” Ehresmann said, “but it doesn’t mean no risk. Outside means less risk, but it doesn’t mean no risk. Masks mean less risk, but it doesn’t mean no risk. That’s why we say the more layers of protection you build in, the better off you are.”
Ehresmann said we can’t forget that COVID-19 has a huge range of impacts.
“Those impacts range from death on one end of the spectrum to no symptoms or mild symptoms,” she said. “And in between those two extremes we are seeing many people with significant illnesses. Some have health problems that linger for weeks or even months after the initial infection. No matter who you are -- young, old, healthy, or underlying conditions -- you don’t know what your COVID case will be like and you shouldn’t be rolling the case that it will be mild because too many people are losing that gamble.”
Walz has said a shelter in place is not a long term solution. But he had this to say when asked if it could be imposed again.
“We planned accordingly but it is upon our doorstep now if this starts to get really bad and we have to start reporting 5- to 6,000 infections (per day) and hospital capacity being maxed out. We control our destiny here,” he said. “We’re still trying and I guess this call today and the point where we’re at is to really try and re-stress that now we need to buckle down and get it right.”
