COVID-19 in Minnesota, Wisconsin live updates | kare11.com

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) urges young people to return to social circles and be tested for COVID-19.

MDH Assistant Commissioner Dan Huff said at a media briefing on Thursday that as students begin to return to school, restrictions across Minnesota have been relaxed, and the department is updating its testing recommendations.

MDH now recommends positive COVID testing for young people returning to school, youth sports and extracurricular activities, especially those between 12 and 25 years old. This includes college students returning to campus and anyone who frequently interacts with people outside the home.

Hoff said: “The most important thing is that there are a lot of new people interacting with people they have never been with before.” “These new recommendations are for anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID, exposed to people who have tested positive, and people in college. Supplement for people who keep open workplaces during the epidemic."

Hoff said this recommendation does apply to all young people returning to school, including young people under the age of 12. However, he said that MDH's focus is on young people aged 12 to 25, as they tend to be more "active."

He said: "Without mom and dad, they might do more things." "So they are more social and interact with more people outside the family.... Yes, it is important that all children are tested, but we The reason why people in this age group are concerned is because of their social activities."

Hoff said that now every school district must provide on-site staff with a COVID test every other week. The state provides saliva testing kits and training on how to use them. Hoff said that school employees do not need to take the test, but the school must provide the test. Hoff said that so far, more than 17,000 school staff have been tested through the program, with a positive rate of 0.36%.

MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm and Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann also spoke at the briefing.

Malcolm reported on Thursday that the number of cases and deaths across the United States continues to be "relenting."

In the past two days, the new cases in Minnesota have been fairly stable.

Malcolm said: "Yesterday was four weeks after the Christmas holiday and three weeks after the New Year holiday." "It is gratifying that there is evidence that we have seen the post-holiday peak, which is a moderate and controllable peak. ."

Malcolm said Minnesota may still be affected by the New Year holiday gathering.

Malcolm said the positive test rate in Minnesota has dropped to 5.1%. Malcolm reports that hospital bed usage continues to decline, but this statistic is "lagging behind" and it may rise due to the increase in cases in recent days.

Malcolm admitted that as of the new figures reported on Thursday, Minnesota has exceeded 6,000 death milestones.

Minnesota

The results showed that as of Sunday, the federal government had allocated nearly 246,000 total doses to Minnesota and nearly 627,000 total doses had been allocated to Minnesota. There are nearly 610,000 shows in the CDC system that have been shipped to Minnesota, but Malcolm reminds the public that the tracking system is complicated. Vaccines shipped to Minnesota include long-term care vaccine doses for the CDC’s Federal Pharmacy Partner Program. She said the number of doses completely delivered to Minnesota for state administration is close to 300,000.

Malcolm said: "Although we continue to buy more vaccines from the federal government, we are busy building infrastructure in Minnesota so that we can prepare a large amount of vaccines from these vaccines. The federal government."

Kris Ehresmann, MDH’s Director of Infectious Diseases, provided more details in the department’s announcement on Thursday.

After someone has tested positive for COVID-19, conduct an initial case investigation.

People will receive a text message asking them to participate in the investigation, instead of receiving a phone call and accepting an interview with the investigator of the case. Once they reply using the email address, they will be able to answer the initial questions about their case, symptoms and date of testing online. Anyone who does not reply to the text message will still receive the call.

In response to a question about the limited number of appointments for the state’s new pilot vaccine program, Malcolm emphasized that community vaccination sites are intended to complement other distribution methods. She said most people will buy vaccines from health care providers or pharmacies. Malcolm said the state hopes to establish community sites to pave the way for more mass vaccinations as supplies increase.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported 1292 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and another 32 deaths from the virus.

According to MDH, 1,087 of these reported cases came from PCR testing and are considered "confirmed." Another 205 times came from antigen testing and were considered "probable".

The number of tests in the last 24 hours of the reporting period is more than twice that of the previous one.

Since the pandemic, the death toll in Minnesota has reached 6,011, the death toll reported on Thursday, and this is the first serious milestone of more than 6,000 deaths.

In the absence of known cases, community transmission is still the most common source of "possible contact". To date, Minnesota has 97,304 cases. The second most common source is the known confirmed cases, which are 90,424.

Overall, the capacity of hospitals in Minnesota is larger than the capacity of hospitals at the peak in November and early December. While the number of ICUs has fallen, the use of conventional hospital beds has also increased.

Due to the virus, the use of ICU beds is the lowest since September, with only 98 beds for COVID-19 patients. As of January 20, 460 COVID patients have used conventional beds.

In the subway, 8.3% of ICU beds are available, which are not in the red danger zone. Only 3.7% of staffed non-ICU beds in the subway are available, but they are still low enough to stay in the red zone.

After launch

MDH said that for the expanded Minnesota population, including adults over 65, educators and childcare workers, appointments this week are full.

However, those who are eligible are encouraged to "come back as soon as possible for more information about future appointments." MDH and Governor Tim Walz warned that the supply of the drug is "very limited."

According to MDH

As of Monday, a total of 203,839 Minnesota people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 41,984 people have received two doses.

Walz called on the federal government to purchase more doses of vaccines. The newly sworn-in President Joe Biden's goal is to distribute 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days of office.

According to figures released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), both COVID-19 deaths and new cases of the virus were on the rise on Wednesday.

Another 34 Minnesota people were killed by the virus, much more than the 6 reported on Tuesday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state's death toll is now 5,979. Of these deaths, 3,810 (or 64% of them) were related to long-term care or assisted living environments. 

Based on the results of 18,393 tests (14,745 PCR, 3,648 antigen) conducted in private and national laboratories, MDH recorded 1,237 new COVID-19 cases in the past day. The test volume is still very low. 

The total number of cases currently reported in the state is 449,492.

The National Vaccine Dashboard says that 200,840 people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 38,521 people have completed the two-dose series. As Minnesota begins a new COVID-19 vaccine pilot program, these numbers should begin to grow faster, and the program will begin statewide vaccination tomorrow. 

Health care providers in Minnesota have received 479,525 doses of vaccine, and another 117,100 doses are part of the federal long-term care vaccination program. As of Wednesday, 40.2% of the dose shipped to Minnesota has been used. 

The number of beds used to care for COVID patients in hospitals across the state has remained fairly stable, with 570 beds currently in use (111 beds for ICU patients). In the twin cities, the supply of beds is still the most stringent, where only 3.3% of non-ICU beds are currently available for patients. The condition of the beds in the intensive care unit was better, at 7.0%. Availability in the southeastern part of the state is also low. 

Currently, the total number of hospitalizations for the coronavirus is 23,608, of which 4,913 patients require care in the ICU.

MDH said that 432,738 people who have tested positive for COVID once no longer need to be isolated. 

The largest number of people died from the virus, involving people aged 85 to 89, with 1,133 of the 5,906 confirmed cases. Young people aged 20 to 24 accounted for 45,367 cases, with three deaths, followed by 25 to 29 years with 40,443 cases and six deaths. 

Hennepin County recorded the most COVID activities with 93,303 cases and 1,483 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 40,134 and 741 deaths, Dakota County with 33,159 cases and 344 deaths, and Anoka County with 31,061 and 365 deaths.

Cook County in northeastern Minnesota has the least COVID activity with 115 cases and zero deaths. 

State health officials announced on Wednesday that all available appointments for the new COVID-19 vaccine pilot program have reached one week. 

The pilot is an attempt by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to allow teachers, childcare workers and Minnesota people over 65 to get vaccinated faster. The plan was launched on Tuesday, and the response was so rapid that the state website collapsed and the dedicated telephone line set up for appointments was ineffective for many people. 

After the situation stabilized, MDH said that 6,000 Minnesota people 65 and older were able to book two doses of vaccine in one of nine pilot clinics set up across the state. In addition, nearly 6,000 K-12 educators, school staff and childcare staff have booked two COVID-19 vaccine series. 

Vaccination will be carried out from January 21 (Thursday) to January 23 (Saturday). MDH asks people who have not made an appointment not to show up at the clinic because they will be turned away.

MDH spokesman Doug Schulz (Doug Schulz) said that all the vacancies on the waiting list this week are full. As Minnesota will receive more doses of the vaccine in the next few weeks, more dating opportunities are expected.

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