MDH COVID-19 briefing: Details on the updated long-term care guidance, more cases linked to political events

Monday, the Minnesota Department of Health released new guidance for visitation and activities at long-term care facilities. MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm, Director of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Kris Ehresmann and Director of Health Facilities Complaints Lindsey Krueger discussed that new guidance and more during Monday’s COVID-19 briefing call.

Christine Dallmann, executive director of SpringBrook Village assisted living facility in La Crescent, also joined the call and talked about how important visitors are to long-term care residents. She noted that her facility has had to restrict access to visitors but also was able to open back up briefly to allow for more visitation.

"It was like a light came back on in her life," Dallmann said of a resident at the facility who struggled to understand why she couldn’t see her family compared to when visitors were allowed again. She acknowledged there’s definitely added risk by allowing more visitors but they felt it was worth it based on the reaction from residents.

Dallmann said positivity rate and hospital capacity is something the facility monitors constantly to determine the visitation policy. She said they know interaction with loved ones really adds to the quality of life for the residents and it’s something they aim for. She added that being within miles of La Crosse, Wis., a COVID-19 hotspot, and having several employees from Wisconsin, means they’ve had to watch very closely to prevent spread within the facility.

MDH releases new guidance for long-term care visitation

Ehresmann noted that more than 2,000 long-term care facilities in the state have dealt with COVID-19 exposures. Of those:

• 181 had only resident cases
• 1,044 had only health care worker cases
• 779 had both resident and health care worker cases

According to Ehresmann, 72% of outbreaks have had fewer than 10 cases and 43% have had only one case identified.

In accordance with the new guidance, county positivity rates will factor in the visitation policies. MDH said two counties (Martin & Redwood) currently have positivity rates over 10%, 40 counties are between 5% and 10% and 45 counties have less than 5% positivity rates. Additionally, Minnesota averages 109 cases per 1,000 residents at long-term care facilities.

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Ehresmann also provided updates on COVID-19 cases in Minnesota linked to political events. She said:

• Three cases have been linked to President Donald Trump’s recent rally in Duluth, although two are from the same household.
• Three are linked to Vice President Mike Pence’s visit at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at the end of last month, and all are from separate households.
• Four more cases have been liked to Trump’s rally in Bemidji in September, moving the total number of cases linked to that event to 12. Four other cases have also been linked to a counter-protest at that event.
• Two cases have been linked to events connected to former Vice President Joe Biden — one in Duluth and one in Brooklyn Park.

Malcolm also noted:

• Monday is the fifth consecutive day Minnesota has reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases.
• The state’s seven-day rolling average case positivity rate is at 5% and has been above 5% for 16 days.
• There’s been larger growth in cases than in testing over the past week, which has been rare in Minnesota.

3 new COVID-19 deaths, 1,178 new cases reported by MDH