MDH COVID-19 briefing: Officials discuss new school year amid pandemic; latest Sturgis update

Tuesday, Minnesota health officials provided the latest update on the state’s COVID-19 situation.

With many schools beginning a new school year Tuesday, Minnesota Department of Health Director of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Kris Ehresmann was joined by Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker and MDE Deputy Commissioner Heather Mueller. The group discussed the new school year and things parents and students should know.

As of Tuesday, Ricker said about 63% of schools in the state are using some sort of hybrid model for learning, about 12% are only distance learning about about 25% are using in-person learning. However, that breakdown doesn’t include every district in the state, as some are still reporting those to the state. MDE said it will have a learning model portal on its website later this week.

Among the schools that started their school year before Tuesday, Ehresmann said 236 cases have been confirmed that were associated with schools, with about 81% of those involving staff members. That data goes back to the start of August and does include some information from summer school, according to Ehresmann.

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Ricker highlighted the need for anyone feeling sick to stay home this year to make sure an outbreak doesn’t occur at school and force a change in teaching methods. She said she understands the dilemma parents face when trying to determine if their child is healthy enough to go to school or not and the one teachers face when they worry their colleagues will face a higher workload if they call in sick, but she urged anyone feeling ill to stay home for the sake of all students and staff.

Ricker also urged businesses to be flexible with parents who have school-age children, saying that parents will be dealing with complexities of their own during the school year.

As for colleges, Ehresmann said there’s been a lot of activity surrounding colleges and universities. She mentioned Winona State, Concordia University in Moorhead and Minnesota State Mankato as a few universities particularly impacted that MDH is monitoring. Ehresmann said most of the activity is resulting from off-campus activities and is preventable but it’s up to students whether or not transmission will continue.

Ehresmann also mentioned Tuesday that a total of 51 COVID-19 cases in the state have now been linked to Sturgis, with three resulting in hospitalization and one death, which occurred last week.

You can listen to Tuesday’s complete briefing by clicking the video box below.

MDH: 2 new COVID-19 deaths, 17 new hospitalizations

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