MDH: 7 of 9 COVID-19 deaths reported in senior care facilities
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.[CDC]
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, it has proven it doesn’t discriminate. Confirmed cases range in age from less than a year to over 90, with rural, suburban and urban areas each affected.
However, thus far in Minnesota, COVID-19-related deaths have been focused mainly on one demographic: senior citizens in congregate care facilities.
Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Sunday afternoon that seven of the state’s nine deaths have been in congregate care settings, meaning in nursing homes, assisted living or similar long-term care facilities. Two of the deaths have been linked to one facility, and all three of Hennepin County’s deaths have been residents who were in long-term facilities.
As of Sunday, Malcolm said 25 congregate care facilities have confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 21 being residents of the facilities and 11 being health care workers in the facilities. Malcolm added that there’s no evidence of direct transmission of the virus between patients and the health care workers so far.
MDH on Sunday said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota rose to 503, while 7,703 people had been tested by the state and 9,954 people had been tested by private labs. There were also 252 patients who no longer need to be isolated.
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the virus had infected about 669,312 people worldwide and killed about 30,982 as of Sunday, while just under 141,789 people worldwide had recovered from the virus.