10 counties in Eastern ND moved to moderate & high risk Covid-19 levels

BISMARCK, N.D. – Governor Doug Burgum moves several counties to the moderate and high risk levels for Covid-19.

Those in our area moving to high risk include Grand Forks, LaMoure, Ramsey, Richland, Towner and Walsh.

Counties in our region moving to moderate level include Kidder, Pembina, Stutsman and Trail.

Last week Burgum said he would like to see information that mask mandates lower the spread of Covid-19. During his Covid-19 press conference he was asked about a University of Kansas study showing 20 counties across the country with mask mandates have half as many cases than their statewide averages.

“If they’ve slowed the spread, it’s about mask usage, not because of the mask mandate. Like I said, mask mandates went in quicker where mask usage was higher. You could find a correlation in those kinds of studies, but causality,” Burgum said.

After meeting with White House coronavirus response coordinator Doctor Deborah Birx this week, Burgum says it’s a priority for the state to identify asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus and have them quarantine.

Watch Governor Burgum’s full Covid-19 press conference below.