Health experts discuss long-term care deaths, 79% of all MN coronavirus fatalities

MINNESOTA -State health experts respond to the high amount of deaths in long-term care facilities.

295 of the 371 total deaths, or 79%, come from long-term care centers.

“We do think it’s very unlikely that there’s anything different about how the virus is behaving in Minnesota or that there are any significant differences in the vulnerability of our long-term care residents or how our long-term care facilities are responding compared to those in other states,” Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease Division Director Kris Ehresmann said.

Ehresmann says other states are tracking long-term care deaths differently so it’s hard to compare.

21 of Minnesota’s long-term care facilities have 20 or more positive cases. Over half of the state’s 244 facilities have two cases or fewer.

Care Providers of Minnesota say several small buildings are “on the brink.”