The breadth of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota became clearer Wednesday, as state authorities disclosed that the 77 confirmed illnesses spanned 16 counties and affected 13 health care workers, nine school workers, one school-age individual and one state legislative staffer.
All the health care workers were likely infected during out-of-state travel, rather than during treatment of COVID-19 patients. State officials nonetheless said these cases reflect the urgent need for Minnesotans to follow public health guidelines that protect themselves and the health care workers who will be urgently needed if cases of COVID-19 surge.
After a week of school suspensions, bar closures, stock drops and virus fears, state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said she is worried that "the public has not fully absorbed this message … The most important thing people can do at this time is stay home if they are sick."
Gov. Tim Walz said Minnesotans should expect the battle against the virus to be "not a blizzard, but a winter" and that compliance with public health recommendations over the long haul will protect the most people from the outbreak.
"Every single individual can have the biggest impact on this by following the rules," he said.
While Minnesota's hospitals and clinics have been preparing for months, they acknowledged that supplies of personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses, and the number of intensive care beds and ventilators, could be used up if too many people suffer severe COVID-19 illness at once. The current mitigation strategies are designed to slow transmission of the coronavirus so that cases enter the hospitals at manageable rates.
The 77 cases were detected by tests at the state public health lab of nasal or saliva samples from 2,762 patients and through an undisclosed number of tests by Mayo Clinic and other private labs. Four were in hospital care Wednesday. One remained in critical condition.
Nurses expressed concerns at a news conference Wednesday by the Minnesota Nurses Association that if mitigation efforts fail, clinics and hospitals will face surges of patients and run short of protective equipment for caregivers.