Cass Co. Active Cases Appear To Hold Steady As Businesses Comply With Mandates

FARGO, N.D. — Cass County has more than 1,100 active cases of COVID-19 but things appear to be tapering some.

There is a decline in the 14-day positivity rate.

Fargo Cass Public Health Director Desi Fleming says it’s too early to say whether this will be an ongoing trend due to mitigation efforts, a lag in testing or other reasons.

She says hospitalizations remain steady but staffing is still tight.

The police chief says his department has only received a handful of calls about non-compliance with the mask mandate in Fargo.

The department has done 45 compliance checks to make sure businesses are following mandate orders on masks and capacity.

“Of those 45 we observed no violations in all but five instances: three regarding masks and two regarding capacity,” said Chief David Zibolski of the Fargo Police Department.

“And after discussing and educating the proprietors in all five of those instances we gained immediate compliance and there hasn’t been any further issues.”

The city is also looking into other ways to help the restaurant and hospitality industry which lost more than 7,000 jobs between March and April and rebounded in October.

But there are still around 2,000 fewer jobs than one year ago.