Health Officials: Variants Leading to Spike in COVID-19 Cases Among Youth

When Governor Tim Walz stopped in New Hope on Thursday, he shared that COVID-19 numbers now appear to show the virus spreading among youth and in schools.

But not between teachers who are tested regularly. A growing number of staff also have been vaccinated.

“The infection rate among teachers is .3 percent,” said Walz. “Teachers are not getting COVID and not getting sick because we made that commitment early. We are handling it district by district in a responsible way.”

The most recent numbers reflect that pattern in our major districts as well.

The governor says districts are quarantining and isolating so they don’t have to shut down and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think the next 21 days will show us how this thing will come to an end,” said Walz. “If we can get the vaccine rates up the way we are doing it, if we continue to mitigate in those most highly-transmittable settings, we should be able to manage those hospitalizations.”

Walz said because younger people with COVID-19 often don’t require hospitalization, we are not seeing the big jump in ICU bed use like we did previously. Minnesota health officials also say the more highly contagious variants are a factor behind more youth getting COVID-19.

Why was Governor Walz in New Hope? Read that story here.

Also see: 4-8 COVID-19 Update: Minnesota Surpasses 3 Million Vaccine Doses Administered

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