Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
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Roseau County is the birthplace of Polaris snowmobiles, shares a border with Canada and regularly fields some of the fiercest competitors on the ice during the state's annual high school hockey tournaments.
Now imagine if this iconic northwestern Minnesota county were suddenly emptied of all its residents. This grim scenario puts the state's COVID-19 death toll in painful context as the nation officially moves off war footing against the virus with the May 11 expiration of the federal public health emergency.
The U.S. census reports that 15,292 people call Roseau County home. That's just shy of the number of COVID deaths recorded in Minnesota since January 2020 — 15,373, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It's staggering to consider that the state has lost the equivalent of one bustling county's entire population. A slightly different but equally heartwrenching perspective: The cumulative number of COVID deaths here slightly exceeds the total number of residents living in the state's smallest four counties by population — Kittson, Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and Traverse.
Those lost in the pandemic were family, friends and neighbors. Many were beloved elders, with the mortality rate consistently highest among Minnesotans in the 65-and-up age group. Their loss continues to be felt even as masking, tests and other pandemic reminders recede from everyday life. The tragic toll is also a solemn reminder that the virus remains far from vanquished, requiring vigilance and commonsense measures such as timely booster vaccinations.
Weekly deaths from COVID are at historic lows, but this airborne pathogen continues to circulate around the globe. With that comes the risk of viral variants able to spread more easily or render medical treatments less effective.