7 Minnesota schools report 5 or more COVID-19 cases among students, staff

Seven Minnesota schools have reported five or more confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. This data marks the first time MDH has publicly released this information in an effort to increase more transparency statewide about the spread of the pandemic.

In the first posting, MDH listed seven PreK - 12 school buildings that have reported five or more confirmed COVID-19 cases in students or staff who were in the building while infectious during a two-week reporting period:

  • Crow Wing County - Brainerd Senior High School
  • Freeborn County - Albert Lea Senior High School
  • Isanti County - Isanti Middle School
  • Martin County - Fairmont Jr./Sr. High School
  • Martin County - Martin Luther High School
  • Martin County - St. Paul Lutheran School
  • Pine County - Hinckley Elementary

MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann says this doesn't necessarily mean the cases originated at the school, but that the person was infectious while they were in the building.

Moving forward, the list of buildings with five or more confirmed cases will be will updated on Thursdays. The listed buildings might not have ongoing transmission. If the building has not had a new case in 28 days, it will be removed from the list.

State health officials will also be providing more school updates in the weekly COVID-19 report. Since Aug. 1, there have been 864 COVID-19 cases reported at PreK - 12 school buildings, which breaks down into 448 staff and 416 students.

Statewide since Aug 1., there have been 509 total PreK - 12 school buildings that have reported at least one case of COVID-19. In the last two weeks, 242 schools have reported just one confirmed case, 77 schools have reported two to four cases, and seven schools have have reported five or more cases.

For higher education facilities, there have been 2,805 COVID-19 cases since Aug. 1. Nine people have been hospitalized, with three in the ICU. In the past two weeks, 58 higher education institutes have reported 1 to 10 cases, 11 higher education institutes reported 11 to 30 cases, seven higher education institutes reported 31 to 99 cases and one higher education institute reported more than 100 cases.

MINNESOTA REPORTS 2ND HIGHEST NUMBER OF COMPLETED TESTS IN SINGLE DAY

The Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,184 new COVID-19 cases from 32,077 completed tests Friday, which the second-highest single-day completed test total since the pandemic began.

The state also reported 10 news deaths, seven of which occurred in long-term care or assisted living facilities. To date, approximately 72% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been residents of those types of facilities.

The key metric, the 7-day rolling average positivity rate, was 5.4% as of Wednesday, according to MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann. Anything over 5% is a concern for MDH as it suggests a higher rate of community transmission. 

Since the pandemic began, there have been 101,366 total confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,059 total deaths.