Pre-K-12 COVID numbers in Minnesota rise slightly after October improvement

COVID-19 cases linked to pre-K-12 schools appear to have peaked in Minnesota, though recent preliminary data suggest they could be rising again amid a lingering pandemic wave.

More than 3,000 students had coronavirus infections while in their school buildings in the week ending Oct. 2, but the weekly count of school-linked cases dropped to a preliminary total of 751 in the last week of October. They have since increased, though, to a preliminary total of 996 in the first week in November.

State health officials said all of these numbers remain elevated and urged parents to take advantage of COVID-19 vaccine incentives for their teenagers and the new opportunity to provide shots to children 5-11.

"The power to change this is in Minnesotans' hands," state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said. "We all have much more knowledge than we did when this all began, and we've got better tools now, particularly in terms of vaccination."

Children are at lower risk of severe illness but can spread the virus that has caused 836,787 infections and 8,968 COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota. The totals include 5,123 infections newly reported on Thursday along with 43 more COVID-19 deaths.

While 27 of those deaths were in seniors — who have accounted for 86% of the state's overall COVID-19 deaths — the toll included a Douglas County resident in the 30-34 age range.

Pandemic numbers have surged in November after briefly declining in late October — a short-lived dip that could have been the result of reduced testing over the Education Minnesota weekend.

Minnesota was averaging two COVID-19 deaths per day in June, but that rate has risen above 17 in November. The average number of Minnesotans with COVID-19 who were newly admitted to U.S. hospitals was 15 per day in June but is 115 per day now.

Malcolm said people need to take steps to protect themselves because the winter and holiday gatherings will increase the risks for indoor transmission.

Booster vaccine doses are recommended for all recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and for recipients of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines who are seniors or younger adults with health problems or jobs that put them at risk for infection.

While the state reports that more than 74% of Minnesotans 12 and older have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, that rate drops below 65% in the 12-17 age group. More than 18,000 children 5-11 have received pediatric doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Minnesota in this first week doses became available.

Reportable outbreaks have been identified in 639 school buildings in Minnesota over the past month, according to weekly COVID-19 statistics released Thursday. Outbreaks are defined as five infections in a school building in a week, and schools remain on the state list until they have had no infections for four weeks.

The size of the outbreaks has varied, with Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School in Benton County reporting a range of 60-69 infections in the week ending Oct. 16. Cherry Elementary in Iron, Minn., reported 30-39 infections that week — roughly 10% of its enrollment.

Infection rates have remained highest this fall in some of the central and western Minnesota counties with below-average vaccination rates. Wadena and Todd counties had two of the highest new infection rates in Minnesota the last week of October, and their first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rates among people 12 and older are just over 50%.

The high infection rates in greater Minnesota have pressed many of the state's regional and small critical-access hospitals, which were treating the majority of COVID-19 patients in late October. That rate has declined somewhat in November, but hospitals outside the Twin Cities metro area were still treating 47% of the 1,172 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota as of Wednesday.

Jeremy Olson • 612-673-7744