As of 10 p.m. Friday new coronavirus restrictions go into effect.
No private gatherings of more than 10 people from no more than three households indoors or outdoors. And no dine-service at bars after 10 p.m., though takeout and delivery is allowed.
Leading up to the latest dialing-back measure, health officials continue to emphasize the dire need to adhere to safety measures as Minnesota experiences exponential case growth.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health Friday, new case numbers have doubled the last week. A pandemic high 1,400 people are hospitalized with COVID complications, 300 requiring intensive care. It was also Minnesota’s deadliest week with 248 people dead in the last 7 days. One person reported dead Thursday was in their 20s with no underlying conditions. The 7-day positivity rate is 13 percent.
Gov. Tim Walz says if we are going to collectively beat back the curve and avoid overwhelming the healthcare system, the time is now.
“It took us about seven months, 27 weeks to reach 100,000 cases in Minnesota,” Walz said. “It took 7 weeks, a little short of two months, to reach (the next) 100,000. It will take us less than 3 weeks to reach 300,000. This trajectory is the way things happen. More people are hospitalized. The spread is exponentially greater and the risks to all of us increase greatly.”
Those are some of the numbers that paint an increasingly grim picture of coronavirus in Minnesota.
But health commissioner Jan Malcom says what’s not included in the numbers is the large number of people experiencing long term health consequences. She read a letter from Minnesota physician Dr. Sarah Whitehouse, who's been experiencing long-haul symptoms, who wrote she was concerned about hospital capacity, strain on the health care system and stress on health care workers.
“She certainly wasn’t dismissing those things, those social opportunities, sports and other things as unimportant,” Malcolm said. “But she was making the point that if we can’t get critically-needed healthcare, those other activities, as important as they are, fade into the background when it's you or a family member suffering from a serious condition that requires treatment, whether that be COVID or important healthcare conditions.”
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said control over the spread of the virus will not only maintain the integrity of the healthcare system, but also have a direct impact on saving lives.
“The entire outbreak for (the flu pandemic) of 1918 in cities occurred usually between 6 to 10 weeks from start to finish,” he said. “We are now in our ninth month, and frankly the next eight to 10 weeks will define a great deal of what that’s going to mean.”
Osterholm said a “gift” to family is to avoid holiday gatherings, especially for young, healthy people who can spread the virus as asymptomatic carriers to vulnerable family members, unless they are able to quarantine for 14 days before.
Osterholm and Walz both said there is light at the end of the tunnel to change course for 2021. But the work has to be done.
“The availability of that vaccine, I believe, starting in the first quarter of next year -- if we can just hold out until then we can save so many lives, so much suffering,” Osterholm said. “Our efforts are not for a long-term do-this-forever kind of approach. It’s to give us the time to get to a vaccine and I believe we will have safe and effective vaccines in that time period.”