Monday Morning C-19 Update

 LETS TAKE A LOOK AT THE UP TO THE MINUTE NUMBERS.....

FIRST THE FATALITIES

IN NORTH DAKOTA - ONE NEW DEATH, NOW AT TOTAL OF 10

IN MINNESOTA - 13 / 134

IN SOUTH DAKOTA - NO NEW DEATHS, STILL A TOTAL OF 7

ACROSS THE U-S.....1,481 / 40,411

ACROSS THE WORLD....4,900 / 165,000

NEW CASES  -

• 57 IN NORTH DAKOTA....AFTER 4 STRAIGHT DAYS OF RECORD NUMBERS PEAKING AT 90 SATURDAY, A DROP TO 57, STILL WELL ABOVE THE AVERAGE..........15 OF THE NEW CASES WERE IN CASS COUNTY WHERE NOW WE HAVE 212...THERE HAVE NOW BEEN 585 ACROSS THE STATE TO TEST POSITIVE.

• 143 IN MINNESOTA.....A TOTAL NOW OF 2,536 ...IN CLAY COUNTY, 7 NEW CASES TODAY, 55 IN ALL.

• IN SD, 95 NEW CASES, 1,635 IN ALL

• ACROSS THE US....ABOUT 24-THOUSAND NEW CASES.....NOW 753,000 TOTAL.......

• ACROSS THE WORLD...73,000 WITH A TOTAL OF JUST OVER 2.4 MILLION SINCE THIS BEGAN.

THE NUMBER HOSPITALIZED 

• IN NORTH DAKOTA ...3 MORE ARE IN THE HOSPITAL, 15 TOTAL....

• IN MN, 228 ARE IN HOSPITAL CARE, 11 LESS THAN SATURDAY

• ACROSS THE COUNTRY, JUST OVER 13,500 ARE IN SERIOUS OR CRITICAL CONDITION...THAT'S BASICALLY UNCHANGED FROM THE DAY BEFORE

• AND WORLDWIDE, THE NUMBER IS JUST OVER 55-THOUSAND THAT'S LEVEL FROM SATURDAY AS WELL..

AND IN THE U-S, NEARLY 70-THOUSAND HAVE RECOVERED, WHILE WORLDWIDE THAT NUMBER TODAY IS NEARLY 624-THOUSAND 

ON THE TRENDLINES THIS MORNING -

WE KNOW MORE TONIGHT ABOUT THE CLAY COUNTY WEEKEND NUMBERS...11 NEW CASES...CLAY COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH SAYS 5 MALES - 6 FEMALES...2 CASES IN EACH AGE GROUP, 20'S 30'S 40'S 50'S 60S...ONE IN THEIR 70'S....3 OF THE 11 ARE FROM CONGREGATE SETTINGS...3 OF THE 11 ARE HOSPITALIZED...MOST CASES WERE COMMUNITY SPREAD OR CONTACT WITH A KNOWN POSITIVE.

ONE NUMBER IN ND THAT'S WORTH WATCHING IS THE PERCENT POSITIVE....AND ITS' TRENDING MUCH HIGHER......THIS IS THE NUMBER OF POSITIVES COMPARED TO THE TOTAL NUMBER SAMPLED...ITS EASY TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE NUMBER OF NEW POSITIVES EACH DAY, BUT IF YOU HAVE A BIG SAMPLE OF TESTS THAT COME IN, THE NUMBER WILL BE HIGH...IF ITS A SLOW DAY OF TESTING THE NUMBER WILL BE LOW.......3.5% BEEN THE TREND, BUT AS THE STATE HAS DONE MORE FOCUSED TESTING OF KNOWN HOT SPOTS IN THE LAST WEEK, THAT NUMBER HAS GONE UP....5 OF LAST 6 DAYS OVER 7 PERCENT….SUNDAY IT WAS  8.5, STILL WELL ABOVE THE MEDIAN BUT BETTER THAN SATURDAY’S 14.2.... 

THE NUMBERS IN BOTH MN AND ND CONTINUE TO SHOW WE ARE CLEARLY INTO A DIFFERENT GAME THAN WE WERE 2 WEEKS AGO....THAT DIFFICULT WEEK AFTER EASTER SAW AN ABRUPT DOUBLING BASICALLY OF THE CASES AND HOSPITALIZATIONS....DEATH RATES HAVE BEEN VERY LEVEL IN ND.....SLIGHTLY ELEVATED IN MINNESOTA....CONSIDERING ALL THE NEW CASES IN THE LAST WEEK IN BOTH STATES, IT'S ALL BUT ASSURED WE'RE NOT ANYWHERE NEAR THE END OF THE FATALITIES....

GOVERNOR Burgum has stressed that because testing data lags and not everyone is tested, the actual number of positive cases in the state could be 10 times higher.

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HERE ARE YOUR MONDAY MORNING HEADLINES

A PROTEST RALLY IS SET FOR TODAY ON THE CAPITAL STEPS IN BISMARCK….A group called Health Freedom North Dakota is behind the protest called “Put North Dakotans Back To Work.” THE GOAL IS TO LOBBY GOVERNOR BURGUM to "re-open" the state….BURGUM’S BUSINESS RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH….

CASS COUNTY SHERIFF JESSE JAHNER TELLS WZFG RADIO THAT THERE IS NOW A SECOND CASE OF COVID 19 IN THE COUNTY JAIL….THE JAIL HAS HAD ONE INMATE IN ISOLATION FOR ABOUT 10 DAYS, AND A SECOND ONE WAS DIAGNOSED LATE LAST WEEK….THERE IS ALSO A THIRD INMATE WHO IS SHOWING SYMPTOMS AND IS ALSO BEING ISOLATED WHILE TESTING TAKES PLACE. 

THE 10TH PERSON TO DIE OF THE VIRUS IN NORTH DAKOTA IS A CASS COUNTY FEMALE IN HER 70'S THAT HAD UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS....THIS IS THE 3RD FATALITY IN CASS COUNTY.

TWO NOTABLE ANNOUNCEMENTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE SUNDAY...THE FIRST, A NEW DIRECTIVE FOR NURSING HOMES....CENTERS FOR MEDICARE SERVICES ADMINISTRATOR SEEMA VERMA SAYS MORE TRANSPARENCY IS NEEDED.....SOT

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS THE U-S HAS TESTED MORE THAN 4.1 MILLION PEOPLE, THAT’S MORE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAS TESTED DURING THE PANDEMIC.

President Trump ALSO announced on Sunday that he plans to use the Defense Production Act to increase the nation’s swab production by at least 20 million per month for coronavirus tests....THE announcement comes after some governors cited a lack of swabs and reagents as hampering their ability to conduct more coronavirus tests.

ARE YOU WORRIED THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL LIFT CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS TOO QUICKLY, OR TOO SLOWLY?  NBC NEWS AND THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASKED 900 REGISTERED VOTERS THAT QUESTION….58% SAID THEY’RE WORRIED THE RESRICTIONS WILL BE LIFTED TOO QUICKLY…..32% SAID TOO SLOWLY…

THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTS THAT POLITICAL LEADERS IN D-C ARE CLOSING IN ON A 470 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL TO PUMP MORE MONEY INTO THE COUNTRY….. $310 billion WOULD GO TO THE Paycheck Protection Program ...THE LOAN-SLASH-GRANT INITIATIVE for small businesses, which was swamped by demand AND RAN OUT OF MONEY LAST WEEK.... 60 BILLION OF THAT WOULD GO SPECIFICALLY TO BANKS THAT SERVE LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES….HOSPITALS AND TESTING FACILITIES WOULD GET 100 BILLION….AND THE EIDL SMALL BUSINESS LOAN PROGRAM WOULD GET ANOTHER 60 BILLION.

34 OF NORTH DAKOTA’S NEW CASES SUNDAY CAME FROM GRAND FORKS COUNTY WHERE AN OUTBREAK AT A WIND POWER PLANT HAS INFECTED MORE THAN 100 EMPLOYEES….

STUDENTS AND COLLEAGUES ARE MOURNING THE LOSS OF A FARGO NORTH HIGH SCHOOL GEOMETRY TEACHER WHO DIED WHILE TEACHING AN ONLINE COURSE.... Rodney Capistran…...Capistran died Friday after suffering THE EMERGENCY EARLIER IN THE WEEK......NO DETAILS OF THE MEDICAL CAUSE HAVE BEEN RELEASED.

THE FORUM REPORTS THAT SEVEN bar owners in North Dakota have been written up for allegedly violating the governor’s executive order to close their doors ....IN ALL, 13 CITATIONS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN, INCLUDING ONE OWNER BEING CITED FIVE TIMES.....Most of the cases are listed as infractions and misdemeanors, and each violation carries a $1,000 fine...NONE OF THE BARS ARE IN CASS COUNTY....ONE IS IN RICHLAND, ONE IS IN BARNES COUNTIES…

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring is providing letters to agriculture businesses deemed critical and essential, for verification purposes.....HE SAYS THE DEPT HAS heard of some issues from those traveling in adjacent states that were stopped and asked what their business was AND THEY want to ensure that those who provide products or services to agriculture are not being disrupted. 

In Minnesota, the total number of tests performed statewide IS ABOUT 46-THOUSAND... The state's public health lab completed just over 10,000 of those tests, with the remainder done at health care providers like Mayo Clinic. .

In Minnesota, 76 of the state's 87 counties now have at least one confirmed case of COVID-19.

All told, about 70% of the deaths from COVID-19 in Minnesota have been in people who lived in long-term care facilities......the state listed 85 congregate-living facilities with at least 10 residents that had at least one confirmed exposure to COVID-19

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a $19 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program that includes $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers and $3 billion in purchases of agriculture products, including meat, dairy and produce.....USDA expects to begin sign-up for the new program in early May and to get payments out to producers by the end of May or early June.