Coronavirus In Minnesota: 695 More COVID-19 Cases Reported As Death Toll Surpasses 600
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In the last 24 hours, 695 more cases of COVID-19 were detected in Minnesota and 23 more deaths were linked to the disease.
Data updated Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Health show that the state's death toll has reached 614. Most of the victims -- including 18 of the newly reported fatalities -- were people in long-term care facilities, which have been uniquely impacted by the respiratory illness.
In Minnesota hospitals, 496 people are currently battling COVID-19, with 199 patients in intensive car beds. According to state officials, Minnesota currently has 245 more ICU beds open, with more than 1,300 able to be ready in the next 48 hours.
Since the outbreak began in Minnesota, 12,494 people have tested positive for the disease, which can lead to serious breathing complications and prove fatal to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. For most, however, symptoms are mild. Since March, more than 7,000 people have recovered from COVID-19 and no longer need to be in isolation.
In the seven days, daily test processing has ramped up to about 5,000 tests a day. State officials say the eventual goal is to hit 20,000 tests a day, enough for any resident showing symptoms to get a test.
For more than six weeks, Minnesota has been under a stay-at-home order. Currently, it's slated to end next week, but Gov. Tim Walz is weighing whether or not to extend it.
"These are horrible choices," he told reporters last week. "There are no good choices."
The stay-at-home order has all but shuttered the state's economy and left more than 600,000 Minnesotans seeking unemployment benefits. Yet, Walz has maintained that the order has done its job: buying time for the state's health care system to prepare for a possible surge in cases and therefore not be overwhelmed by amid the pandemic.
Over last few weeks, Walz has allowed for certain sectors of the economy to reopen. For instance, on Monday, doctors and veterinarians were able to resume elective surgeries.
Still, tensions remain. Some businesses have reopened, or plan to reopen, in defiance of the order. Additionally, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Senate passed a bill Monday that would allow businesses, including restaurants, to have a lot more freedom over how they reopen.
Democrats, including Walz, have maintained that a slow reopening is the best way forward, as it doesn't take much for an outbreak to spread rapidly through a community, as evidenced by the explosion of cases linked to meatpacking plants across the Midwest.
Additionally on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, testified via video before the Senate Health Committee that "consequences could be serious" if the country opens up too soon.
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