Schools are back in session across Minnesota, leading state health officials to ramp up their pleas that residents do everything they can to slow the spread of the coronavirus and the highly contagious delta variant.
Those who are eligible should be vaccinated, health officials said. Anyone in regular contact with school age-children should wear masks in public places, socially distance, get tested if exposed, avoid risky gatherings and stay home when they feel ill.
Doing so will help ensure schools can remain open and students can continue learning in person, said Annie Lumbar Bendson, a school nurse and Minnetonka schools health services director.
“COVID doesn’t just happen in isolation and affect one child,” Lumbar Bendson said. “It has that ripple effect to the child’s household, the child’s grandparents, their cousins, friends and beyond.”
The more contagious delta variant makes it even more important to practice mitigation measures, state health officials say. Delta is now the cause of 99 percent of Minnesota’s new coronavirus infection.
The number of children experiencing severe cases of COVID-19 has roughly doubled, from 0.7 percent last September, to 1.3 percent this year, said Kris Ehresmann, state director of infectious disease prevention.
“The good news is it is still a relatively small number of cases of children who are being hospitalized,” she said.
Yet, health officials are concerned because school just began and children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated. That’s why state leaders are urging multiple “layers of mitigation,” Ehresmann said.
Minnesota’s fourth wave of coronavirus infections continues to drag on with test-positivity, new cases and hospitalizations all above the various caution thresholds health officials use to determine whether the outbreak is under control.
The state Department of Health reported nine more COVID-19 deaths Thursday and 1,215 new infections.
The latest fatalities ranged in age from their late 60s to their 90s. Seven resided in private homes and two in long-term care. All nine deaths occurred in September.
There are 663 people hospitalized, including 178 in critical condition. An estimated 12,500 people with active infections are recovering at home.
Health officials say vaccines are still the best way to prevent severe COVID-19 infections. More than 99 percent of the 3 million residents who are fully vaccinated have not reported a breakthrough case.
The state Department of Health has recorded 15,819 breakthrough cases since vaccinations began, or 0.52 percent of those who were fully vaccinated. Of those, 957 have been hospitalized and 93 have died.
Minnesota has administered 6.2 million doses of vaccine, and 3.3 million residents have gotten at least one shot. More than 72 percent of residents 16 and older have gotten one dose and 91 percent of seniors are fully vaccinated.