Coronavirus in Minnesota: MDH warns of ‘COVID Parties,’ which are not real – MinnPost

For the foreseeable future, MinnPost will be providing daily updates on coronavirus in Minnesota, published following the press phone call with members of the Walz administration each afternoon.

Here are the latest updates from July 8:

Eight more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Wednesday, for a total of 1,485.

Of the people whose deaths were announced Wednesday, two were in their 90s, two were in their 80s, two were in their 60s, one was in their 40s and one was in their 30s. The person in their 30s who died had no known underlying health conditions, while the person in their 40s who died had at least one known underlying health condition. Five of the eight deaths announced Wednesday were among residents of long-term care facilities. Of the 1,485 COVID-19 deaths reported in Minnesota, 1,161 have been among residents of long-term care.

The current death toll only includes Minnesotans with lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 tests.

MDH also said Wednesday there have been 39,589 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The number of confirmed cases is up 456 from Tuesdays count and is based on 7,636 new tests. The seven-day test positivity rate of 4.4 percent is up over 3.6 percent a week ago.You can find the moving day seven-day positive case average here.

Evan Frost/MPR/Pool

Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm

The median age of people testing positive continues to trend down, indicating younger people represent a larger proportion of people who test positive.

Since the start of the outbreak, 4,272 Minnesotans have been hospitalized. Hospitalizations remain steady, with 265 currently in the hospital, 122 in intensive care. You can find more information about Minnesotas current ICU usage and capacity here.

Of the 39,589 confirmed positive cases in Minnesota, 34,902 are believed to have recovered.

More information on cases can be found here.

Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said the MDH has heard some Minnesotans may be considering throwing or attending COVID parties, purported gatherings where people try to get infected with COVID to get it over with, in the hopes of having some immunity in the future (reminder: the jurys still out on how much immunity people develop).

This is a really really bad idea, Ehresmann said Wednesday. Not only is there a small but real risk of significant illness and complications in young people or anyone who develops COVID, but theres also a real risk that the virus will be passed on to other family members or even people in the community at higher risk.

For the record, rumors of COVID parties in other states, most recently from Alabama,have been shared by officials andturned out to be false.

In a review of similar stories, Wiredfound other alleged COVID parties were just rumors, some of which were later walked back by the officials who had repeated them. The press just cant stop pushing the narrative that people are trying to get themselves infected. At no point in this chain has anyone bothered to confirm the underlying claim. The whole thing is reminiscent of the supposed scourge, in the mid-2000s, of pharm parties, at which Americas wayward teens were said to put their parents prescription drugs into a bowl and then consume them at random. This did not really happen.

Ehresmann said Wednesday there had been no confirmed transmissions from COVID parties in Minnesota, and MinnPost asked for additional information on where MDHs information about such gatherings came from.

This was driven more by a preventive impulse just reiterating dont think about it because it is such a bad idea rather than weve had a specific case or credible report that weve confirmed, agency spokesperson Scott Smith wrote in an email.

An increase in COVID-19 cases nationally prompted MDH officials to warn Minnesotans the supply chain for lab materials needed for COVID-19 tests is tightening as demand for them increases and supplies shift to hot spots.

Due to an uptick in testing, people who are tested for COVID-19 may have to wait longer for test results, too.

National labs are reporting its taking four to six days to get results, Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said. That means it could be up to eight days between the time a person is tested and receives a result, including the time it takes to transport the sample and receive results from a provider.

MDHs coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html

Hotline, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 651-201-3920

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Coronavirus in Minnesota: MDH warns of 'COVID Parties,' which are not real - MinnPost