Thursday Morning C-19 Update

 

NOTE - Below is a radio-friendly notepad used on the Need To Know Morning Show on AM1100 The Flag WZFG.  Spelling, punctuation, etc are not edited.

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

FIRST THE FATALITIES

IN NORTH DAKOTA - 1 NEW DEATH, A Man in his 40s from Cass County with underlying health conditions.....THE TOTAL NOW IS 14....7 OF THEM IN CASS COUNTY

IN MINNESOTA - 19 FATALITIES REPORTED WEDNESDAY ....MORE THAN ANY OTHER DAY SO FAR.....179

IN SOUTH DAKOTA - ONE DEATH, NOW A TOTAL OF 9

ACROSS THE U-S.....JUST MORE THAN 2-THOUSAND.   47-THOUSAND IN ALL....

ACROSS THE WORLD ONE OF THE HIGHEST DAYS AS WELL, NEARLY 64-HUNDRED....183,000 HAVE DIED IN ALL.

NEW CASES -

  • IN NORTH DAKOTA 35 OUT OF 602 PEOPLE TEST POSITIVE.....5.8 PERCENT.........JUST SHORT OF 16-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED....18 IN CASS CO. TESTED POSITIVE.

  • 154 IN MINNESOTA...ONE OF THE 3 HIGHEST DAYS SO FAR.....MORE THAN 16-HUNDRED WERE TESTED.....9.3 PERCENT, JUST UNDER THE 7 DAY AVERAGE.......IN CLAY COUNTY, 11 NEW CASES YESTERDAY, 79 IN ALL.

  • ACROSS THE US....ABOUT 28-THOUSAND NEW CASES.....NOW 846,000 TOTAL.......

THE NUMBER HOSPITALIZED -

  • IN NORTH DAKOTA ...23 ....UP 6 FROM THE DAY BEFORE.........

  • IN MN, 240 ARE IN HOSPITAL CARE, VIRTUALLY UNCHANGED

AND IN THE U-S, NEARLY 83-THOUSAND HAVE RECOVERED, WHILE WORLDWIDE THAT NUMBER  IS NEARLY 715-THOUSAND 

 ON THE TRENDLINES THIS MORNING -

ND GOVERNOR BURGUM WAS ASKED WEDNESDAY ABOUT THE 14 FATALITIES IN HIS STATE AND WHAT ROLE UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS CAUSED….HE SAID ALL HAVE HAD SOME KIND OF PRE EXISTING HEALTH ISSUE AND THAT AGE IS NOT CONSIDERED AN UNDERLYING CONDITION.

THERE APPEARS TO BE A STRONG LEVELING OF THE HOSPITALIZED IN MINNESOTA.....THE NUMBER HOSPITALIZED HAS BEEN VERY CONSISTENT - BETWEEN 235 AND 240..... SOME GOOD NEWS....ONE OF THE LARGEST JUMPS CAME TODAY IN THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS WHO HAVE RECOVERED FROM THE VIRUS IN THE U-S....ALMOST 10-THOUSAND PEOPLE TODAY ALONE HAVE A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH!

HERE ARE YOUR THURSDAY MORNING HEADLINES

CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF MARK EMPTING TELLS WZFG NEWS THAT NO INMATES HAVE TESTED POSITIVE IN THE CLAY COUNTY JAIL.  HE SAYS JAIL STAFF IS TAKING ADDITIONAL STEPS TO BE COMPLETE IN SCREENING INMATES WHEN THEY ARRIVE AT THE JAIL.  CASS COUNTY SHERIFF JESSE JAHNER SAYS HE HAS TWO INMATES WHO HAVE TESTED POSITIVE AND ARE IN ISOLATION.  EMPTING ADDED THAT THEY HAVE SEEN A SLIGHT INCREASE IN DOMESTIC CALLS RECENTLY, BUT NOTHING THAT WOULD SUGGEST A MAJOR CHANGE IN THE TREND. EMPTING ADDS THAT THE CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT HAS NOT WRITTEN UP ANY BARS OR RESTAURANTS FOR VIOLATING GOVERNOR WALZ’S ORDERS FOR NO ON-SITE DINING.

MINNESOTA LAWMAKERS ARE DEBATING A PAIR OF PROPOSALS THAT WOULD OFFER RENT AND MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE TO RESIDENTS WHO’VE LOST THEIR JOBS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC….DEMOCRATS FAVOR A $100 MILLION ASSISTANCE PACKAGE WHILE REPUBLICANS SUPPORT A 30-MILLION DOLLAR EFFORT.

MINNESOTA GOVERNOR TIM WALZ ANNOUNCED A ROLLOUT OF A NEW TESTING INITIATIVE WEDNESDAY THAT COULD TEST AS MANY AS 20-THOUSAND RESIDENTS A DAY....BASICALLY, ANYONE WITH SYMPTOMS CAN NOW GET A TEST.....IT'S BEEN THE MISSING PIECE, WALZ SAYS, TO THE HOPES OF REOPENING THE STATE'S ECONOMY AND LIFESTYLE....The 20,000 tests a day goes well beyond the 5,000 tests Walz recently said the state needed in order to LIFT BUSINESS RESTRICTIONS.......HE'S BEEN SAYING THE TESTING IS COMING....AND NOW HE SAYS IT'S HERE....SOT.

State health officials said people should soon be able to turn to their regular health care providers to get tested if they are experiencing.  TO THIS POINT, Priority for testing has been given to health care providers, patients already in the hospital and people living in long-term care facilities....IN ADDITION TO THE 20-THOUSAND DIAGNOSTIC TESTS...THE CAPACITY IS ALSO THERE TO DO 15-THOUSAND SEROLOGIC TESTS A DAY TO IDENTIFY MINNESOTANS THAT HAVE HAD THE VIRUS AND NOW HAVE THE ANTIBODIES....the state will also create a central lab to accommodate the expanded testing and a virtual command center to monitor testing needs and coordinate responses to potential outbreaks

TESTING WAS ALSO THE KEY WORD AT NORTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR DOUG BURGUM' PRESS CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY....NATIONAL GUARD CHIEF ALAN DORMANN SAYS North Dakota IS EXPECTED TO BE ABLE TO TEST 18-HUNDRED RESIDENTS A DAY BY THE END OF THE MONTH AND 3-THOUSAND A DAY BY THE END OF MAY....BURGUM SAYS ONE OF THEIR FOCUSES IS WEEKEND TARGETED TESTING IN AREAS WHERE WE KNOW THERE ARE ISSUES, AND JUST AS IMPORTANT, AREAS WHERE THINGS ARE QUIET.....SOT

AN EXAMPLE OF THE TARGETED TESTING WILL TAKE PLACE TODAY IN GRAND FORKS.....WHERE HEALTH OFFICIALS WILL TEST AS MANY AS 800 RESIDENTS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SYMPTOMS...THEY’LL TEST CONTACTS OF THE L-M WIND POWER EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE TESTED POSITIVE, AND EMPLOYEES OF THE JR SIMPLOT PLANT WHICH EMPLOYS ABOUT 400 PEOPLE….NONE OF THE EMPLOYEES HAVE TESTED POSITIVE, BUT TWO PEOPLE WHO RECENTLY VISITED THE PLANT ARE NOW POSITIVE….

The latest data showed a continued spread of the coronavirus into rural parts of the state. The confirmed case count in Polk County spiked from four to 17 TODAY..... There are now 126 cases, including one death, in Nobles County IN SOUTHERN MINNESOTA, where the JBS pork plant was recently shuttered due to high infection rates among workers.

An influential coronavirus model often cited by the White House says NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA WILL NOT BE SAFE TO OPEN UNTIL JUNE FIRST.....THE IHME INSTITUTE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SAYS MINNESOTA WOULD BE ABLE TO OPEN ON MAY 25TH... GEORGIA WHICH IS REOPENING THIS WEEKEND, IS ALSO PROJECTED TO BE UNSAFE UNTIL JUNE FIRST.

SPEAKING OF WHICH....President Donald Trump said Wednesday he “totally disagrees” with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s phase 1 plans to reopen tattoo parlors, bars, hair salons and other nonessential businesses this week.....Trump said Kemp’s decision violates the phase 1 guidelines the White House announced last week that recommends states wait to ease social distancing restrictions until there’s widespread testing and a low level of community transmission. BUT THE PRESIDENT SAID HE respects Kemp’s right as a governor to make his own decision.....

The Bronx Zoo announced on Wednesday that eight of its wild cats tested positive at the zoo after catching the virus from a staff member.  Also on Wednesday, the CDC announced that two cats tested positive for COVID-19. They are believed to be the first pets in the US to test positive for the disease.  New research from earlier this month suggests that cats may be more susceptible to infection from the new coronavirus and may be able to spread it to other cats, though there's little evidence to suggest the virus can spread to pet owners.

Delta Air Lines, the biggest and most profitable U.S. airline, lost $534 million in the first quarter, ITS FIRST LOSS IN ALMOST 5 YEARS….Delta warned Wednesday that revenue during the 2ND QUARTER , typically a period of HEAVY  travel, will plummet by 90% compared with last year, 

STOCKS FINISHED HIGHER TODAY ACROSS THE BOARD....THE DOW WAS UP 456 POINTS, ABOUT 2%....THE SP500 AND NASDAQ WERE ALSO MORE THAN 2% HIGHER....AND WTI CRUDE OIL FINISHED UP 4% AT 14.33 PER BARREL, UP 55 CENTS.