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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

COVID cases drop; vaccine demand surges

More contagious UK and Brazilian variants found in state

David Colburn
Posted 1/27/21

REGIONAL- The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Minnesota has dropped to levels not seen since September but continued short supply of vaccines is raising the specter of another possible spike as …

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COVID cases drop; vaccine demand surges

More contagious UK and Brazilian variants found in state

Posted

REGIONAL- The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Minnesota has dropped to levels not seen since September but continued short supply of vaccines is raising the specter of another possible spike as more contagious variants of the coronavirus have gained a foothold in the state.
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm noted the reporting milestone in a Tuesday press conference.
“This 727-case day is our lowest in a while,” Malcom said. “The last time we had a number this low was Sept. 29. That reflects how far we came up and down since the end of September.”
Of the state’s cumulative total of 456,490 cases since the first case in the state was identified last March, approximately 350,00 of those have been since Oct. 1. Minnesota recorded its largest single-day count of 8,776 cases on Nov. 9.
In the North Country region, the most recent seven-day average case rate of 10.6 is less than half that of St. Louis County as a whole and dramatically lower than when it hit a peak of 76.1 on Nov. 19.
The combined zip code areas of Orr, Cook, Tower, Soudan, Ely and Embarrass had a total of only seven new cases in the Jan. 21 weekly situation report. None of those communities had more than two new cases reported between Jan. 14 and Jan. 21.
The sharp downward trend from 61 new weekly cases to eight on Dec. 31 came to a momentary halt when 22 cases were reported on Jan. 7. That total coincided with a week in which health officials anticipated a possible post-Christmas surge. Statewide, there was little evidence of a post-holiday surge, health officials said last week.
Vaccinations
Officials shifted gears this week for how it determines who among those 65 and older can get vaccinated at nine pilot sites around the state after massive demand created massive frustrations for hundreds of thousands of people trying to be first in line for a limited number of vaccinations.
First-come, first-served is gone. In its place is a lottery-style system where eligible individuals will be picked at random from the pool of registrants for appointments, this week totaling about 8,000. Those who registered with the system last week were automatically included in the eligible pool with those who registered between 5 a.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday.
As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, with 16 hours still left to register, about 180,000 people 65 and older had signed up for a chance at getting one of roughly 8,000 doses to be administered at this week’s clinics, state IT Services Commissioner Tarek Tomes said. After an early morning rush, online and call center registrations were running smoothly and had minimal or no wait times, he said, a far cry from the stories of people waiting for hours to register last week.
The pilot clinic in Mt. Iron will have just under 500 doses to administer to those 65 and older this week, with an equal amount reserved for educators and childcare workers.
Community health centers are also beginning to vaccinate patients 65 and over. Scenic Rivers Health Services, with clinics in Cook and Tower, announced that they had a small number of doses that they would begin administering to patients 75 and over and to those 65 and over with underlying health conditions.
The announcement stressed that Scenic Rivers would contact patients based on randomized lists to schedule appointments, and that patients should not call the clinic, as excessive call volumes could interfere with other urgent patient needs.
Commissioner Malcolm emphasized the same caution on Tuesday.
“Right now, it’s not likely to be successful to call your clinic,” she said. “They’re starting to reach out to their patients when they do have supply, but if you haven’t heard from them it’s not likely that they have vaccine, so it’s best not to flood them with calls, but to wait for information.”
As of Tuesday, 14,182 people in St. Louis County had received at least one dose of vaccine, and 4,200 have completed the two-shot regimen. The number of county residents age 18 and older who will eventually be eligible to be vaccinated is around 160,000.
In an effort to speed up vaccinations, Gov. Tim Walz set a new goal on Monday of having 90 percent of vaccines administered within three days of being received by providers. Those who miss the mark without sufficient reason could see a reallocation of doses to other providers. Officials heard from the Biden administration on Tuesday that the state’s weekly allotment of vaccine, which had been 60,000 doses, would be increased by 11,000 each week for the next three weeks.
“The federal government simply has to step up with more vaccine,” Walz said. “Minnesotans are ready for this pandemic to end but it’ll take far too long at the current rate we’re getting vaccine.”
Variants found
Health officials doubled down on their pleas for Minnesotans to keep following COVID prevention protocols after announcing that the more highly contagious United Kingdom and Brazilian mutations of the coronavirus have been identified in the state.
Standard coronavirus testing doesn’t identify which strain of the virus caused an infection. But numerous labs send 50 random positive samples each week to the state Public Health Laboratory for more extensive testing. Eight cases of the UK variant and one case of the Brazilian variant had been identified as of Monday.
The Brazilian variant case is the first one identified in the United States and is linked to a Twin Cities resident who recently traveled to Brazil. The individual tested positive on Jan. 9. After it was identified as the Brazilian strain officials are conducting a more extensive investigation into that person’s movements and contacts.
“What has us concerned about the variants circulating currently is that it appears that they have some of those characteristics that could allow them to spread more easily. We are watching that and monitoring them very closely,” MDH Assistant Lab Director Sara Vetter said on Tuesday.
Centers for Disease Control researchers announced on Jan. 15 that the UK variant, which is estimated to be anywhere from 30 to 70 percent more contagious than the current dominant strain, could become the predominant variant by late March.
Researchers in the United Kingdom published an analysis of four studies on Jan. 21, indicating that there’s a 50-percent chance the UK variant is also more deadly. Additional research is being conducted to determine if that variant is responsible for an observed increase in cases among women and younger adults in the UK as well.
The Brazilian variant, identified there in mid-December, has health officials concerned because it appears to have been the cause of a devastating second COVID outbreak in a city where it was estimated nearly three-fourths of the population was infected during the first outbreak last April.
The mutated virus strain appears to be able to mask itself by preventing some antibodies from binding to it, increasing its ability to spread more rapidly and possibly reinfect people.
While it is not possible from the sampling to estimate the amount of either variant currently circulating in Minnesota, Vetter expressed confidence that vaccines would still provide sufficient protection.
“Although variants might have an impact on vaccines, it’s not likely that a vaccine would be rendered completely ineffective,” she said. “Also, if this virus continues to change and evolve, it’s important to note that vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna are easily adaptable and can be updated. This concept is not new – our influenza strains change every year, and the vaccine is updated as necessary to reflect the circulating strength.”
But with only a small percentage of Minnesotans having been vaccinated, officials reiterated that more contagious variants could lead to yet another spike that could increase hospitalizations and deaths. To avoid that, they reinforced that people should continue to mask up, practice social distancing, limit small group gatherings, get tested immediately when symptoms appear, and stay home if they’re feeling ill.