The Minnesota Department of Health continues to report an uptick in COVID-19 deaths today with 29. That is the largest single day death total since June 5th. Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann says the numbers include cases confirmed by standard, molecular 'PCR' tests, and probable infections discovered through a new, antigen diagnostic test.
"We feel that the individuals who test positive with an antigen test, we feel that those people have COVID just like someone with a PCR test. They are being isolated, we're looking at their contacts, the contacts need to be quarantined. So that differentiation is really more of a technical term used in epidemiology."
As states around Minnesota have seen COVID numbers skyrocket in past weeks, the state is just now starting to see a rise in cases and deaths due to the virus. Ehresmann says that peaks and valleys are expected with the coronavirus.
"I've described it before as an escalating roller coaster, so we know that there's variation by day of the week because of testing, but that was curves. The lows are getting higher and the highs are getting higher."
While many companies are producing tests in various speeds for COVID-19, Ehresmann says there are clear standouts to who offers the best testing.
"Those PCR tests are useful and can be accurate even in individuals who don't have symptoms, whereas with the antigen tests, they really are most sensitive and most useful and individuals who have symptoms of COVID."
