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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

COVID numbers keep on rising across the state

Daily case numbers hit heights not seen since last year

David Colburn
Posted 11/9/21

REGIONAL- While the country overall has seen new COVID cases decline for over five consecutive weeks, Minnesota appears to be headed in the opposite direction, at least according to the latest data. …

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COVID numbers keep on rising across the state

Daily case numbers hit heights not seen since last year

Posted

REGIONAL- While the country overall has seen new COVID cases decline for over five consecutive weeks, Minnesota appears to be headed in the opposite direction, at least according to the latest data.
On Monday, state health officials reported 4,253 new cases and 34 new deaths, which appears to be the largest single-day case count since the tail end of the massive November/December 2020 spike. All counties in Minnesota are still in the CDC’s “high transmission” category, with the seven-day case positivity test rate skyrocketing to 14.9 percent, three times the benchmark measure for unchecked community spread.
The news isn’t any better in St. Louis County, according to the most recent data available on the county’s COVID dashboard.
The seven-day average of new daily cases hit 124.9 on Nov. 3, a whopping 42 percent increase in only two weeks. The total of 204 new cases reported on Nov. 3 was the highest daily case count for the county since Dec. 1, 2020.
Statewide, test positivity rates ran higher throughout September and October than the corresponding months in 2020 in the leadup to the biggest spike of the COVID pandemic. In 2020 at this time, no one was vaccinated because vaccines weren’t available. Schools were operating under a statewide masking mandate and protocols for hybrid and distance learning, state high school sporting championships were canceled, and Gov. Tim Walz had just issued an executive order limiting social gatherings indoors and outdoors to ten and restricting restaurants to a maximum of 50 percent capacity, provided six feet of social distancing could be maintained.
Today, nearly 3.5 million eligible Minnesotans 12 and older have been vaccinated with at least one dose of vaccine, representing 74.1 percent of the eligible population. Administration of vaccines to five to 11-year-olds is underway. But with the lifting of the state of emergency and the disappearance of any mandated COVID precautions, the COVID Delta variant continues to drive case counts well beyond what health officials had hoped. Projections from the Mayo Clinic indicate the situation could continue to worsen in most counties of the state, including St. Louis County, over the next two weeks.
More county data
Four of the six North Country zip codes monitored by the Timberjay had double-digit increases in new weekly COVID cases in data reported last Thursday, with 65 new cases total. Cook was the region’s hotspot with 15, barely edging Ely and Embarrass with 14 each. Tower tallied 11 new cases, Orr had eight, and Soudan had three.
Bois Forte Health officials also reported a resurgence of COVID cases, with ten total reported on Nov. 2-3. Among active cases, four were individuals younger than 18.
Although school data lags behind other state reports, no new numbers were reported for North Woods School, which made the state’s list for schools with five or more cases over a two-week reporting period. The absence of a report only indicates that North Woods did not reach the minimum reporting threshold of five cases during that reporting period, and not that there were zero cases at the school.
ISD 696 Ely school district reported six new cases last week and postponed their school musical.
The bi-weekly case rate for northern St. Louis County schools remained well above the rate that would have triggered full distance learning for students last year, coming in at 68.73, 13 points higher than Duluth-area schools.
Data for the week of Oct. 24 shows that the number of new cases among those ages 10-19 more than doubled compared to the prior week, rising to 15 in the northern area of the county. Four children ages 0-9 also were diagnosed with COVID, the same as the prior week. All areas of the county showed marked case increases across numerous different age categories.
Vaccinations remain the single best prevention against contracting COVID-19, according to St. Louis County Public Health Director Amy Westbrook, who encouraged all eligible individuals to work with their health care providers to start and complete a vaccine series or obtain a booster dose.