COVID In Minnesota: Doctors Say Cases Aren’t Dropping Fast Enough To Loosen Restrictions

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MNINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The decline of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Minnesota may not be enough to make big changes to the current rules.

Gov. Tim Walz’s office said Tuesday night that he will announce Wednesday that the pause on in-person dining at bars and restaurants will continue.

Dr. Andrew Badley announced the first vaccinations will begin at Mayo Clinic in Rochester on Monday, bringing optimism and caution about the holidays to come.

“The situation in Mayo across the Midwest is slowly getting better,” Badley said. “It is encouraging that we have reduced numbers, but our numbers are not low.”

Minnesota’s hospitalization rate climbed quickly from eight per 100,000 people in October to 36 per 100,000 late last month. It has now fallen to 27 per 100,000 people.

When you take a look at where overall cases stand, there has also been a drop-off. Still, new COVID-19 cases are more than three times the weekly numbers from October.

Centracare’s Dr. George Morris didn’t want to predict what will happen Wednesday, but did say he trusts health leaders to follow the data.

One month ago, the eight-hospital system’s ICU was running at a 120% capacity. That’s fallen back to a still-high percentage of 90%.

“It seems like the fire hose, or the flood that was filling us up is easier to manage right now,” Morris said.

More than 1,400 Centracare employees were out due to sickness or COVID quarantines last month. Now, less than a thousand staff members are out. Dr. Morris believes the pause has made a measurable difference, and that we might just be weeks away for a real lasting one.

“If we can do that, you know, for another couple of weeks, and unfortunately that means Christmas and New Year’s in that time period, we will really be able to pull this curve down even farther,” he said.

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