COVID In Minnesota: MDH Says Thanksgiving-Related Deaths To Appear Within Weeks
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Department of Health said the it took just over two weeks to go from 200,000 COVID-19 cases to 300,000 this month.
Commissioner Jan Malcolm believes it will likely be only another couple of weeks before we reach 400,000 cases.
"Minnesota now has more cases per population than New York, Arizona, Texas or Florida, other previous hotspots," Malcolm said.
Gov. Tim Walz said he had a call earlier Monday with Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other governors to discuss a plan for a vaccine rollout. He said he hopes the state will soon be able to focus on educating the public about vaccine protocols
"What's it going to look like? When do you have immunity? When do the asymptomatic stop spreading it?" Walz said. "Those are now questions we need the data and the science, and then get that out to Minnesotans."
Walz said there has been some disagreement at the federal level over who should get the vaccine first, but it's possible the states could have some say.
"We've got a lot of folks in the health care industry that go back and forth across the borders. There needs to be coordination around this," he said.
Commissioner Malcolm said the state will start to see the effects of Thanksgiving gatherings in one to three weeks for cases, and three to four weeks for deaths.
Health officials thanked Minnesotans for making adjustments to their Thanksgiving plans, and asked them to continue to stay diligent through the holiday season.
"I'm not going to surprise anybody," Walz said. "I think the guidance around Thanksgiving is going to be very similar around Christmas."