Minnesota has nation's worst 7-day rate of new COVID-19 infections

[RSteve]

The "whole Midwest is lighting up," according to infectious disease expert.
By Jeremy Olson and Christopher Snowbeck Minneapolis Star Tribune
NOVEMBER 15, 2021 — 8:51PM


Minnesota's rate of new coronavirus infections has been worst in the nation over the past seven days, according to the latest federal data, and has brought the state's hospitals closer to capacity.

State health leaders encouraged Minnesotans to protect themselves with mask-wearing and social distancing measures that Gov. Tim Walz no longer has authority to impose. Recent gains in COVID-19 booster and pediatric vaccinations should help, but won't have an immediate impact because the shots take days to coax immune responses.

"We are in the middle of a COVID blizzard right now in Minnesota, so that's a challenge," state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said. "If we could get people to consider implementing the layered mitigation, if we could get more people vaccinated and if people continue to seek out boosters, that will make a difference."

COVID-19 hospitalizations increased to 1,282 on Friday, including 311 patients in intensive care. More than 95% of available inpatient hospital beds were filled with COVID and non-COVID patients, resulting in backups in emergency departments across Minnesota.

 

[ftrplt]

Whatever it is y'all are doin' up there...Quit doin' it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FTRPLT

 

[RSteve]

Whatever it is y'all are doin' up there...Quit doin' it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FTRPLT

Being anti-Covid vax is a prevalent political statement in rural MN.

 

[Ranger107]

Thought Mn had a mandate? Apparently it isn't working.

 

[RSteve]

Thought Mn had a mandate? Apparently it isn't working.

From the above newspaper article: "State health leaders encouraged Minnesotans to protect themselves with mask-wearing and social distancing measures that Gov. Tim Walz no longer has authority to impose.
Once the mandate ended, when the gubernatorial directive ended, the numbers of infected and deaths exploded upward.

Yesterday, I was in an Aldi grocery. I've had three shots, but I still mask. As an Agent Orange vet, I really don't know if my immune system is compromised and if it is, to what extent. I really would like to live a few more healthy years. I know that my younger daughter will take my death very hard, no matter when. My daughters have dealt with their mother's death. I'd rather they have many years to wait for mine. LOL


In the grocery, a guy I'd guess to be in his 70s asked me why I was masking. He was unmasked. I said that I'd had the three vaccinations, but with the Covid numbers on a sudden rise, I was being careful. His response didn't surprise me at all.
"Don't you realize that this is all just a big hoax? I don't know one person who has died from Covid. This is just an opportunity for the drug companies to make more money."

I just walked away. The only way his mind will change is if he's stricken.

 

[RSteve]

"Top state leaders announced today that medical teams from the federal government are being sent to support Minnesota hospitals during the current COVID-19 surge."

It's getting that bad. There are virtually no communities and families in Minnesota that are currently untouched by the Covid pandemic, yet the hard core anti-vaxers refuse to be vaccinated, mask, and keep some measure of social distance. Many entertainment venues are also at fault. Virtually all sporting events are not requiring evidence of vaccination and masking for those attending. If someone were to offer me free tickets on the 50 yard line for Sunday's Vikings-Packers game, I would decline. It's an indoor stadium with 60K people and no vaccination or masking requirements.

(11:28 am CST Wednesday)This just reported by MN Health:
Minnesota's rate of new COVID-19 infections is one of the worst in the nation and has brought our hospitals to capacity limits. Unvaccinated people make up the majority of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

RSteve asks: I really wonder if the time is coming when state hospitals establish a priority scale for those infected with Covid. Would those who have not been vaccinated have the least opportunity for hospital admission and treatment?

 

[Balisong]

I agree with hospital prioritization and also believe those vaccinated should get a discount on medical insurance so the anti vaxers pick up the tab for their decision.

 

[RSteve]

New Data:

New data from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) show unvaccinated Minnesotans are eight times more likely to land in the hospital and roughly 15 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
Minnesotans between 18 and 49 years old who were not fully vaccinated were more than 10 times likelier to go to the hospital for COVID over the last five months, according to the MDH weekly COVID update.

“This is really the best summary of the data,” said Dr. Tim Schacker, Vice Dean of Research for the University of Minnesota Medical School and an infectious disease physician. “Just look at 65 and older. [The case rate] is 72 people per 100,000 in the fully vaccinated versus 490 [per 100,000] who are not fully vaccinated. It's as simple as that.”

The number of overall COVID cases since May is about four times higher in the unvaccinated, according to MDH.

Data among children tell a similar story.

Comparing last November to this November, COVID case rates in children 0 to 11 years old have nearly doubled. The case rate for children 12 to 18 years old, who have been eligible for vaccination, have nearly halved in that same time.
Hospitalization rates follow suit as they have declined over the last year for children over 12 years old and gone up for children 11 and younger.
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My physician nephew told me this morning that the St. Paul hospital where he practices is at capacity.

 

[RSteve]

I agree with hospital prioritization and also believe those vaccinated should get a discount on medical insurance so the anti vaxers pick up the tab for their decision.

There are rumblings that some private insurers are seeking to have treatment for Covid by the un-vaccinated treated as elective and uncovered.

 

[RSteve]

As was already expected, premiums for Medicare coverages are up for 2022, but not drastically. My Blue Cross/Blue Shield premium took a modest rise.

 

[RSteve]

My brother taught for 40 years in the Buffalo, Minnesota school district.

Buffalo High School teacher fighting to survive COVID-19​

For 46-year-old Mike Curry – a father of eight – the last 15 days have been met with triumphs and setbacks, according to his sister Melissa Zuniga. Curry, a social studies teacher and basketball coach at Buffalo High School, has been struggling with COVID-19. "He has COVID pneumonia and it's really affecting younger people in their 30s and 40s that have no underlying conditions," said Zuniga.

"He waited in the ER for 30 hours because there were no beds," said Zuniga. Curry, was not vaccinated and says he was healthy, and felt he was in a pretty low risk group, never imagining COVID would leave him fighting for his life.

In a statement, from Curry he says: “I thank everyone for their continued support and prayers. I didn’t get vaccinated. I am a healthy 46 year old with no other issues. I did not think COVID would cause this. I felt like I was in a pretty low risk group.
People will have their thoughts about me. I just want to get better."
His sister started a Go Fund Me page to help support Curry's wife who is on leave from her job to be by his side and their 8 kids.

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I have immeasurable sympathy for Curry's wife and eight children. I hope he fully recovers from Covid, but his decision to not get vaccinated and potentially infect all of his students and family, in my opinion, is in total and wanton disregard for the health and safety of others.

 

[Blackhorse]

Too bad he didn’t listen to essentially every doctor in the world advising him to get vaccinated. It sounds like his decision was based on the issue of how sick Covid would make him…not that he wouldn’t contract it. He believed himself strong enough to survive the disease. So he was willing to risk the lives of all those around him he would likely pass the virus to during the period from when he became infected and when his symptoms kicked in. Disgusting. Wife and children…students and fellow staff at his school…friends and neighbors…service workers wherever he went…all were disposable and it was OK to put them at risk.

Again…one has the right to chose for themselves…but not to choose for those they will infect and potentially kill. I just can’t understand how people can do this kind of thing.

 

[RSteve]

In Minnesota hot spot, COVID has become a part of life​

New cases and positivity rates have been high for months, but life has gone on in Wadena County.
By John Reinan Mpls. Star Tribune Saturday, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 — 2:58PM

WADENA, Minn. — In this central Minnesota town, it's hard to find someone who hasn't been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just about everyone, it seems, either has had COVID themselves or knows someone who did.

Many have friends or family members die of the disease.

Yet, the annual Christmas lighting ceremony is set for Sunday night at the local park. The stands are full at school basketball games, and the high school thespians just wrapped up a performance of "The Wizard of Oz." Few residents are wearing masks.

You'd never know that Wadena County is one of the nation's biggest COVID hot spots. The county currently has the third-highest rate of COVID in the state, with about 16% of those tested showing a positive result, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

It also has one of the state's lowest rates of vaccination. 55% of residents are unvaccinated and despite the increasingly urgent pleas of local medical professionals, it doesn't look like that's going to change..

"It's political. You're not going to convert anyone at this point," said Brittney Ewert, owner of a downtown hair salon. "A lot of the rural people are very stubborn. They don't like being told what to do." The mother of one of her clients died of COVID, she said.

Ewert, 33, is unvaccinated and had COVID a month ago. She said she's happy to mask up if a client requests it, but on Thursday last week only one person out of six in the salon — a client — was wearing a mask.

Just down the block, Ron Greiman shakes his head at the situation. Greiman, 71, owns a printing and sign shop. He's had two vaccinations and just got a booster shot last week. Several of his employees are unvaccinated, and one just tested positive for COVID. The father of one of Greiman's friends died of COVID three weeks ago.

"I don't understand it," he said. "It's not a political thing. It's a medical disaster."

 

[RSteve]

My grandkids start distance learning again tomorrow. They tentatively go back to classrooms on December 6th if Covid numbers improve in their district.

 

[Zeno Marx]

"A lot of the rural people are very stubborn. They don't like being told what to do."

petulance, under the ruse of individualism and exceptionalism. It's too bad it's socially sold as such a fantastic virtue and core value...or something. As with just about everything --maybe, EVERYTHING-- context is key. In one situation, it can be great, but in another, it can be utterly destructive...including self-destructive. The real virtue there is knowing when to turn it on and off. It's not all that different than, "Honesty is the best policy." Uh...not always.

 

[RSteve]

My grandkids start distance learning again tomorrow. They tentatively go back to classrooms on December 6th if Covid numbers improve in their district.

Starting Monday, my office turns into a 1st grade classroom. My daughter teaches in Minneapolis and her district isn't going to distance learning. The suburb where she lives is, so the kindergartner and 1st grader are going distance. My daughter's husband can work from home, except when there are issues that have to resolved on site. His father will help out at their house with the kindergartner. My daughter will bring the 1st grader to my house on her way to work. Fortunately, daycare for the 2-year-old remains open. The two older kids have to be be site separated or neither will get any schoolwork done. They'd be too busy bugging each other and fighting.
I really hope that it's just for one week, but my gut says this may extend for months.

 

[Blackhorse]

Oh my…I’m dizzy already. That’s COMPLICATED.

 

[RSteve]

Oh my…I’m dizzy already. That’s COMPLICATED.

Minneapolis public schools will have a terrible teacher shortage. My daughter told me that her colleagues without a back-up plan immediately filed for emergency leave.

 

[Orb Weaver D]

so the anti vaxers pick up the tab for their decision.

So by that logic, tobacco users should pay for cancer treatments?

 

[Blackhorse]

The dynamics of Covid vs Cancer are very different. Those with cancer don’t spread their disease to others - potentially killing innocent people. Antivaxers are a significant cause of disease and death. Their headstrong ignorance is indeed an American tragedy.