Minnesota health officials reported on Monday Dec 7, a total of 4,005 COVID-19 deaths a “grim milestone” from the coronavirus. “The jump from 3,000 deaths took 20 days, compared with the three months it took to go from 1,000 to 2,000 deaths and the nearly two months to increase from 2,000 to 3,000 deaths,” according to Star Tribune reporter Jeremy Olson. About two-thirds of these deaths had been reportedly living in long-term care or assisted living facilities, most had underlying health problems.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), as of Nov 7 there have been 356,152 total cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The seven-day positivity average was up slightly to 11.2 in the most recent data.

More Minnesotans Wearing Masks

There are political divisions over mask-wearing in the country. The CDC recently updated its guidance, recommending “universal” mask-wearing ‘in all public indoor locations’.

Tribune reporter Olson writes that according to survey data published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in Washington state, “the rate of Minnesotans who always wear masks in public has risen from 57% on Sept. 1 to 74%”. Yet another COVIDcast model from Carnegie Mellon University also found comparable increase from 86 to 95% in the rate of Minnesotans who said they wear masks most or all of the time, writes Olson.

“Modeling by IHME predicts 7,900 COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota by April, but 6,958 if 95% of people always wear masks in public.”

Keeping the vaccine on the side, I would say masking is our single most important strategy for preventing COVID-19. But it works only if everybody does it. I think that is the key. It doesn’t work if some people wear the masks and other don’t.

Dr. Elie Berbari, chairman of the infectious diseases division at Mayo Clinic (source: Star Tribune)

• Dec. 7 update on COVID-19 in MN: Key week as pandemic death toll tops 4K
• Gov. Tim Walz urges mask-wearing as bridge to vaccine
• Minnesota passes 4,000 total deaths; state revises quarantine guidelines

MN Revised Quarantine Duration

Following the recent shortened quarantine recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), MN state officials reportedly announced shortened quarantine duration options for the Minnesotans too, to align with the CDC.

“In Minnesota, health department officials said 14 days remains the gold standard that should be followed when people are able. People should also observe the full 14-day quarantine if the high-risk exposure is a household member, or if they live in or works in settings like congregate care, health care, or housing, which are high-stakes or where it’s hard to quarantine away from others. Otherwise, in many cases quarantines may be shortened to 10- to 7-days.”

From the MinnPost

The MN revised quarantine recommendations (according to the MinnPost):

• 10 days: if no visible symptoms (even a headache), AND if the person is closely monitoring themselves for symptoms, wearing a mask, washing hands and social distancing through the 14 days.
• 7 days: if a person tests negative via PCR test at least five days after their last contact with the person who exposed them, which is typically enough time for a person to have a detectable amount of virus in their system to test positive. Plus, they should monitor themselves for symptoms closely and, if they have none (again, including small ones like a headache), still wear a mask, social distance and wash hands for the full 14 days.

The Star Tribune reporter Jeremy Olson writes that Gov Walz thanked Minnesotans for a recent hike in mask-wearing and said ‘it should be a bridge for the state to a COVID-19 vaccine’.

It makes sense to everyone, being this close to a vaccine, to try and reduce those infections the best we can. [..] If we could get more people … to quarantine for 10 days even, that would have an impact on the spread of the virus.

Gov Tim Walz (source: Star Tribune)

“Minnesotans are doing a better job wearing masks when they’re in public settings, running errands, but they self-report that they are less vigilant about mask wearing when they are in social gatherings,” said state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.