Fargo mayor: CDC response to rise in local COVID-19 cases may be premature

FARGO (KVRR) – Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney says despite a recent rise in area COVID-19 cases, he’s not getting concerned just yet.

The CDC recently designated Cass County as having a “substantial COVID-19 transmission rate.”  As a result, Fargo-Cass Public Health is again recommending that masks be worn in indoor public places.

Mahoney says when Cass County cases spiked from 15 to 81 in late July, the CDC spotted a “huge percentage” jump, but the number today was down to around 25.

Mahoney, who’s also a medical doctor, says the CDC is responding to percentages that may not show the whole picture.

“So did we just have a little blip in there? And if that blip goes away, what happens? The CDC’s recommendations for Grand Forks—they haven’t changed anything. So I think you have to take it as a grain of salt; the recommendations that the CDC may recommend.  But I think the numbers are too small.  I think you have to look at the overall, what’s going on in the community.”

Mahoney says he thinks the Fargo area would have already been hit by a COVID-19 surge following the Red River Valley Fair and the Fargo Street Fair.

Mahoney says nearly 60% of Cass County is immunized against the virus and says the public is not ready for another mask mandate.