Gov. Walz, MN Health Leaders Warn Of High COVID-19 Numbers as Fall Approaches

ST. PAUL, Minn.– The number of people infected by COVID-19 in Minnesota has steadily been growing all summer, adding to total more than 78,000 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

And with the summer winding down the impact could look a lot different in Minnesota in the coming months.

With Labor Day weekend coming up and fall around the corner, Governor Tim Walz and other state leaders are urging Minnesotans to exercise caution to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Minnesota’s weekly COVID-19 positivity rate has risen to 5.5 percent. That’s up from 4.3 percent just a couple months ago. One of the main reasons is from people getting together for large gatherings again.

“Once you get above that number and community spread starts to go, there’s a very fine line of a tipping point,” said Walz.

The governor said everyone needs to be mindful of COVID-19 guidelines this fall, especially if they are traveling or meeting in large groups for events such as weddings, funerals, or parties. Walz says Minnesotans need to remain vigilant as fall approaches.

“Since the beginning of this, we’ve asked Minnesotans to help us make a difference to attack this head on, to follow the science, to do it and do what’s right for our neighbors. And we’ve done that.”

In a visit to Minnesota last week, White House COVID-19 Advisor Dr. Deborah Birx said the state’s COVID numbers are worrisome this late into summer. Adding that it looks close to where other states like Arizona were at before becoming hotspots.

“Frankly that’s a concern for us that we didn’t see that sustained decline during the warm weather months when we might have expected that decline to hold,” said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm. “But instead, we started to see cases going back up.”

Walz says he knows pandemic has been tough but following social distancing guidelines will help limit the spread of COVID-19 with Minnesota currently at a steady rate of high levels. Just on Thursday, the MDH reported more than 1,000 new daily cases recorded from the day before.

“The virus doesn’t really care that we’re tired of it. The virus doesn’t really care that social media tells us not to worry about it, it’s just the flu. Those things are not true.” said Walz. “We have to base it on science, we have to be smart.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been over 1,800 deaths related to COVID-19 in Minnesota. Seven deaths were reported from Wednesday.