6 and 6

We've got a 6 and another 6 to represent the number of new COVID-19 cases reported by the Minnesota Department of Health today. The weekly zip code report was released at 11 a.m. today. That total of 12 is a "high" number on a population basis, but it is a dramatic improvement from last week when the total number was 25.

Once again, the trend of no COVID-19 cases in Elrosa continues. Their numbers has held at 17 as cumulative cases dating back to January of last year The last week that a COVID-19 case was reported in Elrosa was in the middle of December (week of December 10-16).

Altogether since January of 2020, the zip code area of Brooten (1,466 residents) has had 146 COVID-19 cases, which is almost exactly 10 percent of the population. In Belgrade's zip code, the population of 2,622 residents have had 288 cases, or almost exactly 11 percent of the population. 

The figure of 17 representing COVID-19 cases in Elrosa represents 8.63 percent of their population.

On the other end of the spectrum, the zip code population of Willmar (56201), which includes the city's population of about 19,000 people...they have reported a total of 3,917 COVID-19 cases since January of 2020. This represents almost exactly 17 percent of their population.

Area COVID-19 case increases over the past week:
Sauk Centre - 13
Melrose - 14
Glenwood - 16
Alexandria - 55
Paynesville - 26
Sunburg - 3
Murdock - 3
Kerkhoven - 9
Spicer - 17
New London - 3
Pennock - 4
Willmar - 53

*Update: at an 11 a.m. media call today, MDH officials continued their insistence that youth sports contribute to the spread of COVID-19 among long term care facilities. A reporter pressed the issue, although no data was provided by MDH to back up what they are trying to assert.

Over in South Dakota, their state reported one COVID-19 death last Saturday. They reported no COVID-19 deaths Sunday through Tuesday. They reported one COVID-19 death yesterday (Wednesday). Today, South Dakota reported two COVID-19 deaths. Throughout the month of April, South Dakota has reported very few COVID-19 deaths. I'm tallying them up. They have slowed dramatically over the last two weeks. 

For comparison: in Minnesota, the MDH has reported 28 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, Wednesday and today. During that same period in South Dakota, they reported three COVID-19 deaths in a state that is not dramatically applying restrictions on youth sports or on their K-12 education systems like we are in Minnesota.

Active COVID-19 cases in South Dakota have now dropped to where they were on March 1, which is just below 2,000, in a state with approximately 900,000 residents. For today, South Dakota is reporting 1,953 "active" cases of COVID-19 in their state.

In 2020, active COVID-19 cases in South Dakota surpassed the 2,000 figure on approximately September 1.

In terms of hospitalizations, today in Minnesota, the MDH reports 196 people are in ICU with COVID-19. Over in South Dakota, that number is just 22.