ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Health has expanded by 10 its list of restaurants and bars associated with outbreaks of COVID-19.
All with the exception of two are located in the Twin Cities metro area. American Legion Post 145 in Howard Lake, west of the Twin Cities, has 11 cases, while the VFW Post 9433 in Rosemount south of the Twin Cities has 14 cases.
Crave in downtown Minneapolis has 24 cases, The Saloon has 24 cases, and Los Grandes in Burnsville has 32 cases. Other new restaurants included Billy's on Grand, Graze, Fogo de Chao, Texas Roadhouse and Fourth Street Saloon.
Currently, five of the 29 restaurants are actively being monitored.
"Certainly if you were present at some of these places, you recognize that some of the guidance was not being followed and you have symptoms, (it would) definitely be a good idea to get tested," said MDH director of infectious disease Kris Ehresmann during an afternoon call with the media on Friday, Aug. 21.
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Also on Friday, health officials said they were seeing community transmission in Le Seur, Waseca and had conducted a community testing event in Glencoe Thursday that tested 791 community members.
Health officials reported that 15 Minnesota residents who attended the Sturgis rally have tested positive for COVID-19, 14 on Thursday and one on Wednesday of this week. One person has been hospitalized.
"We know there were many more people from Minnesota at the event and expect to see more cases in the coming days," said Ehresmann. She asked that all attendees self-isolate for 14 days and get tested if they develop symptoms.
The state of Minnesota reported an additional 835 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The new cases bring the state's laboratory-confirmed case total to 68,133.
The state also reported another eight deaths from the illness. The new deaths bring the statewide mortality count to 1,753 since the state recorded its first death from the virus on March 21, five months ago.
Since then, COVID-19 has killed an average of just over 350 residents per month in Minnesota.
The new deaths included one resident each of Dakota and Nicollet counties, and two residents each of Ramse, Scott and Hennepin counties.
The deceased included four residents of long-term care.
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The state on Friday reported an additional 18,815 tests for the illness. The state's health systems have now collected over 1.3 million tests on more than 1.04 million residents.
Currently there are 296 Minnesotans in the hospital with COVID-19, 136 of whom are being treated in an ICU setting.
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- Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 hotline: 651-201-3920.
- COVID-19 discrimination hotline: 833-454-0148
- Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 website: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) website .
