COVID-19 Briefing: State health officials discuss indicators that could be used to reestablish certain restrictions

Thursday, during the state’s regular COVID-19 briefing, Minnesota health officials discussed the indicators the state will use to decide whether it needs to reestablish restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The discussion of those indicators came a day after Gov. Tim Walz announced the state’s ‘stay at home’ order would not be extended and would expire on Monday. The governor also announced he has directed his cabinet to look into how to safely reopen bars, restaurants and salons beginning in June.

Dr. Ruth Lynfield, with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), said the department based the measures on surveillance of ongoing testing and case trends in the state. Lynfield emphasized the measures are not derived from the models that have been released by the MDH.

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The four indicators that are taken into consideration include positive cases, testing capacity, case growth and community spread.
Lynfield said the indicators for positive cases is whether the positivity rate is greater than or equal to 15% on average of seven days, or the daily percent in positive tests increases five percentage points over 14 days.

In regards to testing capacity, the threshold is met if testing capacity drops below 5,000 tests a day over a seven-day period.

MDH will also monitor the days it takes for cases to double. Reestablishing restrictions could occur if the days it takes for the number of new cases to double is an average of five days or faster over 14 days.

For community spread, MDH will monitor the number of cases with no known exposure.

To see the state’s "dial back dashboard," click here.

Other topics discussed during the briefing included:

Minnesota to receive more remdesivir

Lynfield also announced the state is set to receive a third shipment of remdesivir.

The Food and Drug Administration allowed emergency use of remdesivir, which appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. A government-sponsored study showed remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

According to Lynfield, the shipment will be enough to treat 145 people on a 10-day course, and more people on a five-day course.

Minnesota National Guard helping test in long-term care facilities

Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Joe Kelly announced that 20 members of the Minnesota National Guard reported Thursday morning to assist in testing, particularly at long-term care facilities.

According to Kelly, the soldiers that are assisting are trained medics, with many of them working in the health care field as civilians.

"The Minnesota National Guard has been assisting state agencies with logistics and planning efforts up to this point," said Major General Jon Jensen, Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General. "With these new missions our efforts shift to more directly assist those on the frontlines of the COVID?19 fight."

More than 600 case interviews completed

MDH Infectious Disease Division Director Kris Ehresmann announced the department reached an internal goal of conducting 650 case interviews in a single day.

According to Ehresmann, 500 of those interviews were done by MDH staff, while 150 were done by local public health partners.