MDH: 153 COVID Cases Tied To State Fair

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Health says it’s tracking COVID-19 cases from the Minnesota State Fair and other large gatherings. MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm says health officials see an increase in cases at large gatherings.

“The fair ended a little over a week ago and it will be a few weeks before we have a more comprehensive assessment of transmission associated with the fare. But as of the latest report, we now have 153 cases, including four hospitalizations that are directly tied to the fair.”

Malcolm says they may never be able to find out how many people will end up getting sick from Great Minnesota Get Together.

“Cases that we can report are far from the complete total number of cases because we know that not everyone who actually has a case gets tested. Sometimes people forget or omit things in the interviews with our epidemiologist. And at this point in the pandemic, just given the sheer volume of cases, we’re just not able to reach everyone.”

State Epidemiologist and MDH Medical Director Dr. Ruth Lynfield says you’re at risk of getting COVID anytime you’re in a large group.

“It is raining COVID. And we need to do what we can to decrease transmission. And that includes vaccination. It also includes when we have these levels of cases that people mask in public, indoors and outdoors where there is crowding and where you can’t keep a social distance.”

Minnesota COVID case counts and hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been since April. The state averages around 2300 COVID cases a day and has almost 700 people in the hospital statewide with the virus. Around 10% of cases are in kids under age 10 and 83 of Minnesota’s 87 counties are experiencing widespread infection rates.

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