Photo by Dave Schwarz | St. Cloud Times May 8, 2020 Health officials renew focus on long-term care facilities, home to 80% of deaths
Good morning and welcome to Friday. Here's your coronavirus briefing for the day.
A cold start to the weekend, but at least it's sunny. Twin Cities highs near 50 with 10 to 15 mph winds and evening lows in the lower 30s. Statewide highs from the lower 40s to lower 50s. More on Updraft. | Forecast
Minnesota health officials have a new plan for battling the coronavirus in long-term, congregate care locations. They'll expand testing at the facilities, add personal protective gear for workers and ensure adequate staffing levels when workers get sick. Some 80 percent of coronavirus deaths have been people living in long-term care facilities.
Even before COVID-19, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said staffing was a "chronic problem." Bringing in “strike teams” of health care workers furloughed from other jobs who could fill the breach at a facility in need is one option under consideration. Gov. Tim Walz also suggested National Guard members might be deployed.
Walz projected that Minnesota’s COVID-19 death toll would reach 1,000 by the end of May at the current pace. “We are still building toward the peak” of overall COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Malcolm said. “We are on the steep part of the curve and we’re just going to expect to see more and more cases each day. As we test more, we will find more."
435 people remain hospitalized; 182 in intensive care
5,308 patients recovered
African immigrant health workers are being hit hard by COVID-19. Of congregate care facility workers testing positive, 43 percent were black. And black Minnesotans are twice their proportion of population as a whole and three times the hospitalizations compared to white population.
Workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry processing plant in Cold Spring want a federal investigation of their employer. Plant employees have become sickened with the coronavirus, driving confirmed cases in Stearns County to over 1,100. And they say Pilgrim's Pride hasn't done enough to protect worker health.
With a $2.4 billion budget deficit, Minnesota lawmakers have big choices ahead. “This is a math problem,” Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans told House lawmakers Wednesday. “You have revenues dropping and spending going up — equals a budget deficit.” And the choices that solve the problem will affect hundreds of thousands of us.
Again, if you're fishing this weekend, stay close to home to protect rural Minnesotans. “Our guidance is to stay close to home. The more people travel, the more the spread," Walz said. This is not about defying an order that I put out. ... This is about defying public health warnings. This is about defying the science of how this spreads.”
Who are the helpers in your life? Share a story of how someone has helped you or someone you know through this difficult time. They might even get a shout-out on MPR News. — Cody Nelson, MPR News | @codyleenelson
