Coronavirus Daily Briefing: Test positivity rate declining, too soon to say Minn. won’t see cases spike like other states

Minnesota health officials on Monday provided the latest update on the COVID-19 situation in the state.

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm and Infectious Disease Division Director Kris Ehresmann talked about a variety of topics, including test positivity rate, increasing cases in other states and reopening plans.

Monday’s COVID-19 data released by the state included six deaths, which was the lowest number in a single day since April 13. Malcolm noted a computer error excluded a chunk of tests in Monday’s data, which likely also excluded some more positive cases, she said. However, the death total wasn’t affected by the glitch, as that data is taken from another source.

MDH reports 230 new COVID-19 cases, fewest deaths recorded in report since April 13

Below are some of the highlights of Monday’s briefing:

• The test positivity rate is still declining in Minnesota, with a seven-day rolling average at 3.5% for the state, Malcolm said. Some areas, such as the metro, are higher than that number while other regions are lower, according to Malcolm, but they’re trending the right direction.
• With cases beginning to sharply rise again in many states, Malcolm and Ehresmann said they’re continuing to monitor what happens in Minnesota but it takes time to really assess where the state is at. They added that it’s too soon to say if Minnesota has avoided what many other states are dealing with, but MDH is preparing for the worst.
• Malcolm and Ehresmann pushed back against the notion that MDH moving some COVID-19 patients into long-term care facilities is leading to more deaths. Malcolm said they’ve tracked those cases closely and haven’t seen any epidemiological evidence of transmission from COVID-19 patients they’ve introduced into those facilities. Malcolm and Ehresmann added that it’s something they continue to closely monitor but they haven’t seen any evidence suggesting otherwise. Additionally, Malcolm said each facility needs to meet specific criteria to even accept COVID-19 patients, and because of the staffing and experience, those facilities are some of the best places to put a positive COVID-19 patient with nowhere else to go.
• On possibly switching to a regional reopening approach that would allow areas less affected by the virus to reopen sooner than areas hit hardest, Malcolm said they are tracking data regionally but have made the decision so far to approach reopening on a statewide basis for a few reasons. Ehresmann said some of those reasons are lower health care capacity that could lead to areas in Greater Minnesota getting overloaded very quickly and also a travel factor, saying they’d have to stop travel between regions if they went to a regional reopening plan, otherwise, it would continue to spread between regions. As of now, they haven’t found a good way to do that.
• An alternative care center in Roseville is ready to go if needed in the future, Malcolm said.
• MDH again urged Minnesotans to get the health care they need, both for adults and children.
• About two weeks since protests following George Floyd’s death, Malcolm said it’s still too early to see the full impact of those mass gatherings of people. The next week or two is expected to tell health officials a lot more, but Malcolm also noted that many people who participated in those protests and rallies were younger and may show fewer symptoms.
• Malcolm reiterated that outdoor activities do have a lower risk than indoor activities but mass gatherings are still not recommended.

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