12-21-20 COVID-19 Update: MDH Says ‘Tough Decisions” Ahead on Vaccine Prioritization
The Minnesota Department of Health held a conference call on Monday, Dec. 21 to brief members of the media on the latest public health information regarding COVID-19. This is a summary of that call.
MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm
- 500,000 cases recorded worldwide yesterday
- Global total of 77 million
- 1.7 million COVID-19 fatalities worldwide
- roughly 10,000 deaths a day worldwide
- 200,000 cases a day in the U.S.
- 17.8 million cases in the U.S. since the pandemic started
- 317,000 deaths in the U.S. from COVID
- In Minnesota, 1,998 cases reported today on yesterday’s volume of 33,391 lab tests
- New total of 399,311 cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota since pandemic started
- We’ve now had a week of cases below 3,000 per day
- 4,872 total deaths in Minnesota
- 21 new deaths reported
- 1,040 people currently in hospitals with COVID-19, 237 in ICU
- Seven-day test positivity rate was at 8.9 percent as of Friday, the fourth day below the high-risk level of 10 percent test positivity.
- There are pieces of good news in the reported data. As a massive vaccination effort ramps up, we’ve seen a downward trend in new cases and hospitalizations and some stability in the numbers now. The trend has gone down long enough to where we think there’s a genuine drop in cases.
- This downward trend in new cases and hospitalizations is very good to see.
- We think it highlights people’s actions to take the precautionary measures to heart and to avoid the gatherings they would have loved to have over Thanksgiving.
- People taking the governor’s order seriously are having a positive impact, and we want to thank Minnesotans for their actions, which have provided respite for our health systems and hospitals as they have been working hard and maximizing capacity at every turn.
- For past two weeks, roughly 33,000 cases in each of those weeks.
- The daily average of new cases is down almost half since we hit the peak in the second week of November
- We’re now at roughly 63 new cases per 100,000 residents each day. It’s progress, but it’s still a high number.
- 10 cases per 100,000 population is the national benchmark that shows we have this under control
- We’re still in a high-risk situation
- We did reach a new high in the number of deaths in a single week, with 424 deaths in the most recent week of complete data. On average, that’s 2-3 people dying every hour last week.
- We do expect to hit the milestone of 5,000 cumulative deaths in Minnesota this week.
- This increase in deaths follows the big surge in cases we saw in November
- Among U.S. adults between 25-44, between March through the end of July, almost 12,000 more deaths in that age range than would have been expected based on historical norms. That trend has continued into the fall.
- Estimated that 154,000 people would be likely to die in this age group in 2020 based on previous trends. That number was surpassed in November. It’s now expected to reach 170,000 deaths in that age group by the end of 2020. We see in the data that COVID-19 is responsible for these excess deaths.
- It’s a reminder that adults in these younger age groups can still be impacted by COVID as well. This disease is widespread and serious enough to cause deaths above historical norms in this younger population.
- We will need to continue avoiding gatherings, social distancing, and wearing masks, even as vaccines start rolling out.
- Some of the regions in the state, particularly the central region, the south central, and the southwest do remain above our threshold for test positivity, which is 10 percent. We want to see these numbers below 5 percent test positivity as another measures of whether the epidemic is in a state of greater control.
- We surpassed 5 million total COVID-19 tests in Minnesota this past weekend
- We’ve worked hard to offer testing without barriers (such as whether people have symptoms or not, whether they’re insured, language barriers, etc.)
- More than 20 sites open to the public around the state, along with the mail order program for saliva testing.
- We want to remind everyone to keep being vigilant as we approach the holidays. It’s still important to follow the guidance. If you are planning to see family or friends outside of your immediate household, please consider being tested.
- We know that young people are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers and have an increased risk of exposing others without knowing it. So we encourage people to take advantage of the testing options available to them.
- More info can be found on the COVID-19 response website.
- Testing sites will not be open Dec. 24, 25, 31, and Jan. 1
- Case growth rates in the Midwest have been higher on a population basis than we’ve seen in most other states over the course of the pandemic.
- Among our Midwestern state neighbors, it appears that since early December, our case growth is coming down faster in Minnesota than our neighboring states. Which we credit to the hard work and sacrifices of Minnesotans.
MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann
- The Moderna vaccine has now been approved by the FDA
- Over the weekend CDC’s advisory committee met over the weekend to issue guidance on how to administer the Moderna vaccine following the emergency use authorization
- They noted that the Moderna vaccine has a similar efficacy and safety profile as the Pfizer vaccine.
- Over the weekend the CDC immunization advisory committee also voted on what groups should be included in Phase 1B for vaccinations. We had initially expected that Phase 1B would include essential workers, and it does. But the group is now also recommending that people age 75 and older be included in Phase 1B. And that’s wonderful because this is the age group that does have the most severe consequences from COVID disease.
- Minnesota vaccine allocation advisory committee will meet again to further sub-prioritize the federal guidelines, as they did for Phase 1A. The group is looking at the guidance the CDC provided very closely.
- The MN vaccine allocation work group will meet next week and again in January with the official Minnesota allocation recommendations coming out the week of January 18.
- The vaccine work group will help the state sort out sub-prioritization within 1B.
- We want to make sure all Minnesotans have access to COVID-19 vaccine, and that’s our commitment. But because we don’t have as much vaccine as we want initially, we do need to make prioritizations.
- Depending on the weekly shipment amount that we receive, we hope to be finished vaccinating group 1A by the end of January. But that is entirely dependent on the allocation we receive from the federal government.
- The good news is that the vaccine is in the state and we are getting more doses each week.
- We are vaccinating our health care partners, and as of yesterday, over 2,900 health care workers have been vaccinated. That’s impressive considering that many of our health care sites didn’t even receive their vaccine until Thursday or Friday.
- There are many factors to consider and address to get people vaccine. There are people who are deserving of receiving it early on. But because the vaccine doses are limited, we have to make some tough decisions early on for what order things will go in.
- It’s a very fluid situation and things change.
- Our vaccine allocations have changed. We appreciate your patience as we navigate that together.
- But more vaccine is coming into Minnesota each week.
Additional notes from the meeting
- We received 46,800 Pfizer doses last week (the full allocation)
- 94,000 Moderna vaccines coming our way. They were just shipped out today
- Expectations of vaccinations — to see 100,000 doses administered in a week could be a lot. Providers could first start vaccinating on Thursday. Many didn’t even get their vaccine until Friday. We should expect to see many more doses in the week ahead, just not 100,000.
- As more vaccine becomes available and we get more providers signed on, that will change the landscape
- Malcolm says restrictions are still necessary. While our cases have gone down, the cases are still high enough to where the state is still considered “high risk.”
- MDH isn’t sure how the new relief package passed by Congress will be spread to all of the different needy entities. MDH wishes it had been approved earlier. However, with the money, public health systems will be able to hire additional vaccinators, pay overtime, etc.
- Regarding the new variant of the COVID strain making its way through the UK, MDH says that it speaks to increased transmissibility of the virus, but not that it makes it more dangerous. In other words, it’s not leading to more severe disease, just greater chance of spread.
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