MDH: ‘COVID parties’ becoming a concern

In a conference call on Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health said as they continue to test people for COVID-19 they’re noticing those getting infected are getting younger and younger.

"The median age of our cases does continue to trend down,” said Jan Malcolm, Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner.

While those between 20-29 years old make up more than 21% of positive cases, which is the largest percentage of any age group, they make up less than 1% of deaths, and only about 3% of ICU cases.

Although those specific numbers don’t appear grave, MDH says they do have a new reason to be concerned.

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“I want to comment on a concept that we’ve been hearing about recently that we’re not particularly enthusiastic about. And that is, ‘COVID parties,’” said Kris Ehresmann, Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease Director. “I’ve been hearing from various sources that some people may be organizing or attending a ‘COVID party,’ presumably as a way to get Covid at a time that may be more convenient to them. I just want to say, and I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear me say this, that this is a really, really bad idea.”

Meanwhile, nearly half of ICU hospitalizations are from those between 50 and 60 years old.

While more than 1,000 ICU beds are in use, only about 10% of those are from COVID-19.

"Two-hundred sixty-five patients currently in the hospital, 122 in intensive care. And again these are the COVID-related numbers of hospitalizations only,” said Malcolm.

Since March 21, at least 1,490 people have died from COVID-19 out of more than 40,000 confirmed cases, bringing the death rate to about 3%.

Ehresmann said later that they don’t have specific contact tracing to figure out what COVID-19 cases might have been from the "COVID parties."