Olmsted County health officials brace for increase in severe COVID-19 cases despite lockdown

Graham Briggs, director of public health for Olmsted County, said clinical trials for a vaccine have been completed.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Every day it gets brighter and brighter.”

Briggs and other county health officials are reviewing mass vaccination plans. However, he said vaccinating most groups would take time and precautions to prevent the spread of the virus would likely continue well next year.

Meanwhile, they are monitoring more than 930 active cases in Olmsted County amid a spike in cases here and statewide. On Monday, the seven-day moving average for Olmsted County was almost 124 new cases per day. 159 more cases were announced Thursday.

Graham briggs

Briggs said he expects more hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks.

“The next few weeks are already written for us,” he said. “People who will be hospitalized have already been exposed.”

This inevitable increase in severe cases will further burden an already overburdened health system.

New statewide restrictions to prevent the spread are put in place Friday to help ease pressure on hospitals and healthcare workers.

In a statement regarding the restrictions, the Mayo Clinic announced that about 2.7% of its staff – around 1,500 people – are now subject to COVID-related restrictions, either because of diagnoses of the virus or because of its exposure. About 93% of those staff exposures were the result of community spread, the statement said.

The surge in cases has also overtaken efforts to contact people diagnosed with the disease to try to trace the origins of the infection and prevent its spread. With the county’s ability to trace contacts being overwhelmed, staff launched a new online questionnaire for people diagnosed to share their information and provide contact details of people they have had close contact with for those responsible for the diagnosis. health can contact them.

“It really depends on the public to help us,” Briggs said.

Ideally, however, personal interviews are a more efficient way to conduct contact tracing.

“We prefer to do in-depth one-on-one interviews,” Briggs said, adding that this is not only useful for public health reasons, but it also helps to reassure people who have been diagnosed and might. have questions.

“People are afraid, are worried,” he says. “Reassuring them and making sure they know the resources they have is part of our job.”