Tag: COVID-19 variants

14 Minnesota counties fall under new federal mask recommendation, for now

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Gov. Tim Walz says vaccine availability puts Minnesota in “100%” control of its destiny when it comes to fall K-12 classes, events such as State Fair. 

The guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday was in response to a COVID-19 wave fueled by the delta variant of the coronavirus that has caused widespread infections in other states and appears to be emerging in Minnesota.

Fourteen Minnesota counties had infection rates Tuesday that were high enough to trigger the federal mask recommendation, including Scott County in the Twin Cities area. The other 13 are smaller counties with rates that can fluctuate widely from week to week.

Exactly how the guidance will be implemented in Minnesota is unclear, but a joint statement by the state departments of health and education said, “We will be using the updated CDC guidance to inform our state guidance, including our school guidance coming out in the near future.” Continue reading.

The daily coronavirus update: Minnesota reports six cases of variant first found in India

The Minnesota Department of Health reports that 2,589,032 people — or roughly 46.5 percent of the state population — have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Eleven more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday, for a total of 7,174.

Of the people whose deaths were announced Tuesday, two were in their 80s, three were in their 70s, five were in their 60s and one was in their 40s. One of the 11 people whose deaths announced Tuesday was a resident of a long-term care facility.

MDH also said Tuesday there have been 581,335 total cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. That number is up 995 from the total announced on Monday and is based on 13,840 new tests. The last time Minnesota reported fewer than 1,000 new cases in a day was March 23, though Tuesday’s data comes on a relatively small number of tests. Continue reading.

U.S. will allocate $1.7 billion to fight variants as new global infections almost double

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NOTE: This article is provided free of charge for all to read by The Washington Post.

The White House announced Friday that it will allocate $1.7 billion to fight coronavirus variants as the nation races to vaccinate people before the pathogen can mutate in new and concerning ways.

The funding, which will come from the most recent federal stimulus package, will target the detection, surveillance and mitigation of the variants. The original strain of the coronavirus now makes up only about half of infections in the United States. Continue reading.

CDC director warns of ‘impending doom’ on potential new COVID-19 surge

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The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday warned of “impending doom” over rising coronavirus cases, telling the public that even though vaccines are being rolled out quickly, a fourth surge could happen if people don’t start taking precautions.

“I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom. We have so much to look forward to so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope. But right now I’m scared,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing Monday.

“We do not have the luxury of inaction,” Walensky added. Continue reading.

Mapping of Carver County outbreak unmasks how COVID spreads

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Carver County cases show an alarming “attack rate” by newer form of virus. 

Hannah Friedlander didn’t like what the genomic sequencing was telling her. Two children from one Carver County school not only had COVID-19, but their infections in late January came from the same, more infectious viral variant.

Then came a cluster in a local hockey team, followed by an outbreak at an area child care facility. All were unusual for their high “attack rates,” meaning more people exposed to the virus ended up infected.

And, as it turned out, all were linked. Continue reading.

Fauci clashes with Rand Paul over masks

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The nation’s top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci on Thursday clashed with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the need for people to continue wearing masks once they’ve already been infected with or vaccinated against COVID-19.

“You’re telling everyone to wear a mask,” Paul said. “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater? You have the vaccine and you’re wearing two masks, isn’t that theater?”

“Here we go again with the theater,” an exasperated Fauci responded. “Let’s get down to the facts.” Continue reading.

Infectious diseases expert: COVID variants are a “whole new ballgame”

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The U.S. is playing a “whole new ballgame” in terms of controlling the coronavirus now that variants are spreading across the country, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CBS News on Friday.

Why it matters: Osterholm said the U.S. could face another surge from the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and has since been detected throughout the U.S. Multiple studies have suggested that it likely spreads more easily than the original strain of the virus.

What they’re saying: “We are, I think for the moment, in the eye of a hurricane with regard to the good news, the vaccine’s coming, but the big challenge [is] with this new variant that has arrived here from Europe,” Osterholm told CBS News. Continue reading.

World on brink of fourth wave of coronavirus

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A year after the frightening beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the world stands on the brink of a fourth wave of infection as nations race to vaccinate their populations and stave off a new surge in hospitalizations and deaths.

Total reported cases rose across the globe in the last week of February after six weeks of decline, driven in part by new, more virulent variants that transmit between people at startlingly higher rates than the initial strains out of Wuhan, China, and northern Italy.

“This is disappointing, but not surprising,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters last week. “This is a global crisis that requires a consistent and coordinated global response.” Continue reading.

COVID-19 cases drop, but variants point to dangers ahead

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The number of Americans testing positive for the coronavirus has dropped substantially from an early January zenith, easing the strain on hospitals across the nation that faced danger over the winter holidays.

But new and more transmissible strains of the coronavirus are circulating more widely across the world, and public health experts caution that, even with the beginnings of mass vaccination programs, the public must be more vigilant than ever in protecting themselves and reducing the spread.

“This is the calm before the real storm. I think the darkest days of the pandemic are just ahead of us,” said Michael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Prevention at the University of Minnesota.  Continue reading.