 | Courtesy of Sanford Health
July 29, 2020
Hospitalizations jump, just as health officials warned | |
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Good morning and welcome to a fairly long update. Lots of news and, of course, the weather.
Sunny across Minnesota. And good temps, too. Twin Cities highs in the lower 80s with nighttime lows in the lower 60s. Statewide highs from the mid-70s to mid-80s with overnight lows down to the mid-50s. More on Updraft | Forecast
Health experts told us hospitalizations would increase if we weren’t vigilant about coronavirus prevention. Now, that is exactly what’s happening — COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 37 yesterday, one of the largest single-day increases of the pandemic. More Minnesotans are now in the hospital with COVID-19 than at any point in the past month.
How’d this surge happen? It’s pretty simple. On a macro level, it started once the state began to reopen social spaces. Minnesotans, especially those in their 20s, began to slip on COVID-19 prevention efforts like social distancing and mask-wearing, which led to the spike in cases we’re still seeing. While hospitalizations trended downward for a while, the Health Department said the case spike would lead to more people in the hospital. Here we are. Maybe we’ll see the mask mandate start working in a few weeks.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics:
- 52,281 cases confirmed (480 new) via 979,988 tests
- 1,580 deaths (4 new)
- 5,028 cases requiring hospitalization
- 294 people remain hospitalized; 138 in intensive care
- 45,987 patients no longer requiring isolation
If you’re on the Iron Range, there’s free COVID-19 testing today. Drive-thru tests will be administered at the St. Louis County Fairgrounds in Chisholm today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. People are encouraged to preregister on this St. Louis County website. You don’t need insurance or an ID to get tested.
The Midwest could be the next region to see a major COVID-19 surge. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, says several states are showing “very early indication” of dangerous surges, but there is time to stave off the upswing by following national reopening guidelines.
Onto some non-coronavirus news…
New documents raise more questions on whether Minneapolis police officers are adequately trained on the dangers of improper restraints. Riham Feshir reports that a review of seven years of documents show just a brief mention of “compression asphyxia,” but plenty of references to the controversial cause of death called “excited delirium,” which law enforcement often cite to explain deaths of civilians in police custody.
If you got an unsolicited packet of seeds in the mail, don’t plant them. Reports of the mystery seeds have surfaced across the U.S. and Minnesota agriculture officials say they may introduce invasive species. The state is working with federal officials to figure out what the seeds are and destroy them.
There’s an election coming up soon — and it’s not what you’re thinking. Minnesota voters choose the DFL and Republican nominees for U.S. Senate, as well as most of the state’s U.S. House seats and dozens of seats in the state Legislature, in a primary on Aug. 11. Head here for a rundown of what’s at stake.
— Cody Nelson, MPR News | @codyleenelson |
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