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2021-11-11 05:39:52
By Ravi kumar Image Source: Screen Shot
A new surge of Covid-19 cases is expected to start hitting the United States around Thanksgiving just as the holiday season begins, public health experts are warning. COVID-19 cases are seeing an alarming surge in Minnesota while COVID hospitalizations reach their highest level of the year in the state, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Wednesday.
Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 5,277 new cases and 43 new deaths. This increased the state's totals to 831,669 confirmed cases and 8,925 deaths. Minnesota hospitals are caring for 1,159 COVID patients, with 257 in intensive care units.
Nearly 760,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by Covid and more than 46.5 million confirmed cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest statistics. Despite the fact that the U.S. was one of the first nations to get the Covid vaccine, it is underperforming compared to its peers in terms of vaccination rates.
Malcolm stated the new case numbers were "extraordinarily high and concerning" in a briefing for reporters. She called it a "truly alarming spike,"
"The tragedy of this current spike in cases is that more than ever, we have the tools and the knowledge to minimize the impact of this virus," Malcolm said.
Vaccinations, staying home when sick, and wearing a mask in public are some of the tools, Malcolm said. She added that too many are still not vaccinated.
Seventy percent of the population 12 and over completed their vaccinations. The Associated Press reported that 67 percent of Minnesotans ages 5 and up have been given at least one dose.
A factor in the increase of cases seems to be "waning immunity," appearing around six months after vaccination, Malcolm and Kris Ehresmann, the health department's infectious disease director, said. This is occurring mostly in older patients, the group first to be vaccinated.
In fact, the winter surge may already be underway, according to the latest projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s school of medicine.
“We see increasing evidence in the Northern Hemisphere that the expected winter surge has started to unfold,” Director Dr. Christopher Murray said in his latest update.
This is due in part to colder weather driving people inside and the immunity from vaccinations starting to decrease.
“The third factor that’s fueling these winter increases is the fact that people are much less cautious than last winter, as mask use is much lower,” Murray said.
"Every day now we're seeing dozens of Minnesotans dying from an illness that they didn't have to get, and that is beyond heartbreaking for all of us doing this work," Malcolm said.
Given that hospitals are crowded and many people still aren't vaccinated, health officials are encouraging everyone to think carefully about their plans for the upcoming holidays, Ehresmann said. She noted that the Centers for Disease Control recently updated its holiday guidance. It is stressing the value of vaccinations; wearing masks in public indoor settings; avoiding crowded, poorly ventilated places; not hosting or attending gatherings if sick or showing symptoms, and delaying travel until fully vaccinated.
"Given the COVID blizzard that's hitting us in Minnesota, it's a really good idea to wear a mask even if you're fully vaccinated ... if a member of your household has a weakened immune system and is at increased risk of severe disease, or if someone in your family is unvaccinated," Ehresmann said.
Ehresmann recommended getting tested before holiday gatherings and travel — especially for anyone with symptoms or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Testing and staying away from crowds before traveling is especially important for college students returning home, she said.
Malcolm said her staff was making "steady progress" toward reducing a backlog in new case numbers that developed over the weekend when the number of lab reports coming in exceeded the department's capacity to process them.
While the number of new cases in the U.S. has decreased in the past few months, Europe has seen a big spike, and travelers from Europe and elsewhere around the world began streaming back to the U.S. after a 20-month ban on international visitors that was imposed at the start of the pandemic.
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