Incidence of COVID in MN schools has increased by 74% since last week – Twin Cities

The number of schools listed by the Minnesota Department of Health for coronavirus outbreaks has skyrocketed 74% in the past week and is now in more than 400 buildings.

A total of 996 school buildings have reported infections, of which only one is 486, according to a weekly report from the State Department of Health. The remaining 511 schools have multiple cases.

Every week, the Minnesota Department of Health lists all school buildings that have infected students and staff more than five times in a two-week period. Buildings will not be removed from the list unless there are new cases for 28 days.

In the Thursday update, there were 406 buildings on the list, up 74% from 233 schools last week.

There are 19 buildings in both Dakota and Washington counties, and Ramsey has 14 schools reporting outbreaks. There are 57 buildings on the list in Hennepin County.

School-age children had the highest incidence of new cases, with a positive test rate of 10.7% last week in the age group of 10-14 years. School children accounted for about 26% of the approximately 21,000 new infections recorded last week.

“Infection among schools and children remains a particular area of ​​concern,” health commissioner Jan Malcolm said in a news briefing Thursday detailing the situation in the fourth wave of the Minnesota pandemic. virus. She said COVID-19 is not only dangerous for illness and the elderly. “This disease can and does affect young and healthy people, including children.”

Most children are not eligible for vaccination. People over the age of 12 have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state, with less than 60% receiving at least one vaccination.

Meanwhile, teachers’ union education Minnesota has reported the death of the eleventh school employee since the start of the pandemic.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing masks indoors in all 87 counties in Minnesota due to the extremely high community transmission of coronavirus. However, although there are state-wide virus mitigation recommendations, there is no state-wide masking obligation.

There were also 32 COVID-19 deaths reported on Thursday. The latest reported deaths ranged from the early 30s to the early 90s, with 21 in private homes and 11 in caregivers.

Eighteen of the deaths occurred in October, 13 in September and one in March. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the death toll has been 8,275 and long-term care has killed 4,668.

Cases of long-term care continue to grow, even though nearly 94% of older people have been vaccinated at least once. There are 338 facilities with at least one resident or staff tested positive, up from 309 a week ago.

Minnesota added 2,674 new coronavirus cases on Thursday. This is the result of about 42,000 tests. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, 732,001 infectious diseases have been diagnosed.

Despite the improvement in the situation nationwide, the positive test rate, the number of new cases, and the hospitalization rate continue to increase. There are 881 patients in Minnesota, of whom 234 are in critical condition.

In some parts of the state, hospital beds continue to be scarce, usually due to lack of staff.

Health officials say the best way to avoid serious illness and delay the spread of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated. Breakthrough infections are on the rise, but about 99% of the 3.1 million fully vaccinated Minnesotans do not report breakthrough infections.

Minnesota has received 6.4 million doses of vaccine and 3.4 million doses at least once. Approximately 73% of eligible residents over the age of 12 have been shot at least once.

This report contains information from the Associated Press.