For the foreseeable future, MinnPost will be providing daily updates on coronavirus in Minnesota, published following the press phone call with members of the Walz administration each afternoon.
Here are the latest updates from July 6, 2020:
38,569 confirmed cases; 1,474 deaths
Three more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Monday, for a total of 1,474.
Of the people whose deaths were announced Monday, one was in their 90s, one was in their 60s and one was in their 40s. One person whose death was announced Monday was a resident of a long-term care facility. Of the 1,474 COVID-19 deaths reported in Minnesota, 1,156 have been among residents of long-term care.
The current death toll only includes Minnesotans with lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 tests.
MDH also said Monday there have been 38,569 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The number of confirmed cases is up 433 from Sunday’s count and is based on 5,677 new tests. You can find the seven-day positive case average here.
Since the start of the outbreak, 4,219 Minnesotans have been hospitalized and 258 are currently in the hospital, 125 in intensive care. You can find more information about Minnesota’s current ICU usage and capacity here.
Of the 38,569 confirmed positive cases in Minnesota, 33,907 are believed to have recovered.
More information on cases can be found here.
MDH adds news epidemic metrics
MDH is again tweaking the way it evaluates the state’s pandemic response, in part by increasing a benchmark goal of conducting 50 tests each week for every 10,000 Minnesota residents to 100 tests each week for every 10,000 residents.
“The reason we made this change is because as testing capacity has continued to expand we thought that this was more appropriate and reflective of where we actually are and we wanted to keep the bar high on expected testing across the state,” said Jan Malcolm, the MDH commissioner.
On this metric, Minnesota is succeeding. The state has been above the 100 test threshold for at least three weeks, Malcolm said. Minnesota currently ranks 16th among states in testing per 100,000 residents, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The state has also implemented a new measure for tracking growth in the number of cases in the state. Instead of counting the time in which the number of known COVID-19 cases double, known as the case doubling rate, the state now says it will track the average weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 people.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Tom Olmscheid[/image_credit][image_caption]Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm[/image_caption]
Minnesota currently has a rolling seven-day average of 7.7 new cases per 100,000 residents, which equates to about 435 new cases per day. The state’s goal, which is five new cases per 100,000 people, equates to 283 cases per day. Malcolm said the measure is tied to population, which can help Minnesota compare different regions and compare itself to other states. But she said MDH does not yet have comparisons to share.
Both metrics are part of the state’s “dial-back” dashboard which is aimed at monitoring the epidemic to see if Minnesota should clamp down on public activities again.
What’s causing the drop in deaths?
While the number of new COVID-19 cases may not meet state standards, the daily death toll has generally decreased since mid-June. The state has reported more than 10 deaths in one day twice since June 20. The state was steadily reporting more than 10 or 20 deaths per day for the two months prior.
Health officials said a number of factors are contributing to the dropping number of deaths. Sustained efforts to reduce the spread of infection in long-term care facilities is one reason there are fewer deaths, Malcolm said. Since elderly people and those with underlying health conditions are more at risk to die of COVID-19, a drop in cases at assisted living facilities and nursing homes can greatly reduce deaths.
Malcolm said 80 percent of nursing homes that have ever had a case have not had any new cases in the last week. About 38 percent have had no new cases in a month. “We definitely do have the metrics to indicate more facilities are better able to control outbreaks when they happen,” Malcolm said.
Dr. Ruth Lynfield, the state epidemiologist, said that treatment for COVID-19 has improved as medications are tested and used, and doctors learn more about preventing complications from the disease like blood clotting.
Another reason deaths have declined may be that the share of new cases among younger people has steadily increased. The median age of COVID-19 cases in Minnesota is now 38.4 years old, compared to 41.5 years old at the beginning of June. Malcolm said that was a “notable drop” over one month.
Younger people are less likely to have a severe case of coronavirus. Still, Lynfield said she wanted to caution young people that they can spread COVID-19 to people “who may not do as well as they.”
Today on MinnPost
- Social distancing on a school bus? Industry leaders in Minnesota explore options for a safe return.
- Asking yourself how long it’s been since this all started? Us too.
- As always, a look at the numbers on the MinnPost COVID-19 dashboard.
Around the web
- The New York Times sued the CDC to get data on how COVID-19 is affecting different racial and ethnic groups. The paper found Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in a widespread manner that spans the country.
- An agonizing lag in coronavirus research puts pregnant women and babies at risk, reports ProPublica.
- Restaurants and gyms are closing again in Florida’s Miami-Dade County. The Miami Herald has the story on a retreat from a reopening plan amid a surge in new coronavirus cases.
MDH’s coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html
Hotline, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 651-201-3920
According to the CDC, the death toll for Covid is quickly reaching the point where it will no longer be deemed an epidemic.
We can assume people will continue to contract it until herd immunity is reached, it was always the only real solution, and one wonders now if shutting the country down was the right thing to do, and whether governors are still justified in keeping their states shut down.
If there is a benefit/loss ratio for not contracting vs. losing ones livelihood, I’d suggest we are at the loss side.
Nonsense. The countries that had far-reaching shutdowns are seeing a rapid decline in cases and deaths, while the US cases and deaths are still growing. Most European countries – which won’t even let Americans in now – will recover far more quickly than the US, which will be dealing with this for years. Even Republicans like Texas’s governor Greg Abbott are now mandating mask use in public.
This is the problem with with electing a president with zero knowledge of business or economics. Who squandered his inheritance on one failed business after another. The idea that you could not ignore the problem and not shut down will have economic consequences for years.
“EU: Economic contraction will be worse than expected”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/506145-eu-economic-contraction-will-be-worse-than-expected
Also, the headline of this story says “death toll continues to decline”, and so does the CDC.
How’s your grandmother, and your grandfather, or if you are old and wise, your sons and daughters? Covid May kill them even if they are part of the herd. I wonder if anyone that works in health care, especially those with direct patient contact, would agree with the helplessness of your view. perhaps they should just give up…it’s a cost benefit thing you know.