MDH COVID-19 briefing: Infection rate still trending wrong direction, details on DOC’s COVID-19 plan

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

Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm and Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann again urged Minnesotans to take the virus seriously and follow health guidelines to reduce its spread.

As of Monday, the seven-day average positivity rate for Minnesota was at 8.1%. Additionally, nine counties have a positivity rate of more than 10%. The number of new cases continues to outpace testing growth.

After Halloween on Saturday, Ehresmann said she was encouraged by the number of people she saw being creative to safely celebrate.

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Malcolm and Ehresmann have told Minnesotans that the state could have a future like Wisconsin regarding COVID-19 if Minnesota isn’t able to get the virus under control. Monday, they were asked why the states have had such different paths during the pandemic.

They pointed to several decisions along the way, both on a local basis and by state officials, including a Supreme Court ruling in Wisconsin that have limited some of the governor’s safety measures. However, Ehresmann noted that Minnesota may still travel down Wisconsin’s path if Minnesotans aren’t able to reduce COVID-19 spread better. She said that starts with everyone taking it seriously and learning from Wisconsin’s situation.

Malcolm and Ehresmann also noted that the rapid uptick in new cases is making it difficult for contact tracers to keep up. Still, contact tracers are putting in a lot of effort because doing so can yield valuable information if people are open and willing to share. However, they noted that more people are being reluctant to share important details about where they may have contracted the virus, which hurts efforts to stop its spread.

Stillwater prison inmate dies less than 2 weeks after testing positive for COVID-19

Finally, state health leaders talked about the Minnesota Department of Corrections and its COVID-19 efforts after an inmate in Stillwater died on Sunday.

Ehresmann said Stillwater has had daily calls with MDH about COVID-19 and its situation, and the facility is proactively testing to find positive cases. She pointed to old facilities and things like poor airflow as partly to blame for the outbreak in the prison, saying the staff is very limited in what it can do to combat the virus with that setting.

A total of three inmates in Minnesota state correctional facilities have died from COVID-related causes during the pandemic, according to DOC. In Stillwater, more than 750 inmates of 1,278 have tested positive for COVID-19, as have more than 150 prison staff members.

MDH: 2,954 new cases in latest COVID-19 report, 9 new deaths