MN Health Commissioner concerned with Covid-19 calling the state a “hotspot”

More than a third of Minnesota counties have now had case rates of over 100 cases per ten thousand people.

MINNESOTA –  Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says the state remains in a crucial stage as Covid-19 cases are expected to continue to rise.

Commissioner Jan Malcolm is expecting the number of deaths related to Covid-19 to increase in the coming weeks.

“We are in still a very critical spot in this pandemic in Minnesota. This is the worst spot we’ve been in since March,” Malcolm said.

More than a third of Minnesota counties have now had case rates of over 100 cases per 10,000 people.

“We consider a high risk threshold to be 10 weekly cases per 10,000 people. So, ore than a third of our counties are ten times over what we would consider a high risk threshold for rapid rate of growth,” Malcolm said.

But what does the rate case growth mean?

“Minnesota now has more cases per population than New York, Arizona, Texas or Florida, other previous hotspots. We are a hotspot,” Malcolm said.

One critical measure the state continues to track is the test positivity rate.

“The fact that we are testing so robustly is really one of the bright spots in the Minnesota response, but we’re not just finding cases because we’re testing more. Again, it’s just showing us how much virus is really out there and it’s a lot,” Malcolm said.

Health officials remain hopeful they will eventually see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We’re certainly looking for signs of promise. We’re certainly looking for evidence over the upcoming weeks that the four week pause that we’re in now, will have a sustainable impact on these numbers, but only to the extent that we keep working on this together,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm is expecting to see an increase of cases over Thanksgiving weekend and are expecting those numbers to show over the next few weeks.

Governor Tim Walz says next week’s Covid-19 briefing will be on the distributions on vaccines and when it could get to Minnesota.