Recent reports on daily COVID-19 data suggests that positive cases are increasing over 5% though daily deaths remain in the single digits. ‘The positivity rate of diagnostic tests also has risen from 3% in mid-June to more than 5% — a key threshold for whether states have manageable situations or excessive growth in COVID-19 cases’ writes Jeremy Olson of the Star Tribune.

In the Star Tribune, Jeremy Olson writes : “The national COVID-19 map has turned upside-down in one way, with Minnesota and some other northern states reporting more growth in cases over the past two weeks than southern and western states hard-hit by the pandemic this summer.”

Minnesota’s average daily count of new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased 11% over the past two weeks while daily counts have declined 24% in Arizona and 16% in Texas, according to the COVID Exit Strategy website.

The Star Tribune

According to the MPR News, Minnesota health officials worry ‘about the growth of COVID-19 among younger Minnesotans, including that those infected will inadvertently spread the virus to grandparents and other more vulnerable people’.

Consider all the roles you play. People who might not worry about themselves should worry about infecting vulnerable family members and coworkers.

Kris Ehresmann, MN Infectious Disease Director (source: MPR News)

“Minnesota is at a sensitive stage in the pandemic. The case count in Minnesota has doubled from six cases per 100,000 people per day on June 16 to 12 cases per 100,000 now, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard,” writes Jeremy Olson in the Star Tribune.

Infection in Younger Population

According to a recent WHO (World Health Organization) report, in the early stages of pandemic, “older adults were most at risk for the virus but new data from the WHO shows that most cases — by far — are reported in people ages 25 to 64. The proportion of cases in teens and young adults has gone up six-fold, and in very young children and babies the proportion has increased seven-fold.”

Minnesotans in their 20s now make up the age group with the most confirmed cases in the pandemic — nearly 14,000. The median age of Minnesotans infected has been trending down in recent weeks and is now 36 years old.

MPR News

‘A resurgence of large parties and social outings have been a source of widespread infections following the loosening of restrictions, and they are most often attended by younger people’ Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday to CNN.