Tuesday 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. ​

HERE ARE THE KEY NUMBERS THIS MORNING.....

IN NORTH DAKOTA.... the 3 NUMBERS WE'RE WATCHING -- FIRST THE POSITIVE RATE  ....75 REPORTED POSITIVE YESTERDAY OUT OF 1,987 TOTAL TESTS....THATS 3.8 PERCENT - below the 7 DAY AVERAGE..........SECOND, THE HOSPITALIZED NUMBER IS UP FIVE FROM THE DAY BEFORE AT 23.... THIRD THE DEATH COUNT .... ALSO UP TWO AT 19....AGAIN THE VICTIMS BOTH FROM CASS COUNTY - BOTH ARE MEN IN THEIR 80'S WITH UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS........ AND NOW 12 OF THE 19 DEATHS HAVE BEEN FROM CASS COUNTY.........OF THE 75 TO TEST POSITIVE, CASS COUNTY HAD 34 AND GRAND FORKS COUNTY HAD 36.......350 HAVE RECOVERED, THAT'S UP 24 ...

IN MINNESOTA - 214 POSITIVE OUT OF A SAMPLE SIZE OF 2,300.....AT 9.3 PERCENT THAT'S VERY MUCH IN LINE WITH THE 7 DAY AVERAGE.... .  14 NEW DEATHS, THE LOWEST NUMBER IN A WEEK.......IN ALL, 286 AVE DIED....NO DEATHS REPORTED  IN CLAY COUNTY.... 8 HAVE DIED IN ALL IN CLAY COUNTY.....AND HOSPITALIZATIONS....170 FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT DAY....ICU NUMBERS ARE 122 THAT'S SLIGHTLY ABOVE THE 7 DAY AVERAGE...NEARLY 19-HUNDRED HAVE HAD THE VIRUS AND RECOVERED.

IN SOUTH DAKOTA -  A DAY OF ENCOURAGING NUMBERS.....NO NEW DEATHS - STILL A TOTAL OF 11.....ABOUT 30  NEW CASES....2,245 IN ALL....THAT'S WELL BELOW THE 7 AND 14 DAY AVERAGES....61 ARE HOSPITALIZED, DOWN 3 .....AND MORE THAN 13-HUNDRED HAVE RECOVERED....UP MORE THAN A HUNDRED.

ACROSS THE U-S.....IT'S EARLY, BUT JUST MAYBE A SIGN THAT THE WORST IS OVER IN REGARD TO FATALITIES.... A LITTLE OVER 12-HUNDRED DEATHS WERE REPORTED MONDAY....THAT'S THE SECOND DAY  IN THAT RANGE, AFTER A WEEK STRAIGHT OF DEATH COUNTS ABOVE 2-THOUSAND....WE WILL SEE!  56,624 HAVE DIED.......14-THOUSAND ARE HOSPITALIZED THAT'S THE LOWEST NUMBER IN A WEEK, DOWN A THOUSAND FROM THE DAY BEFORE….......THERE ARE 20-THOUSAND NEW CASES REPORTED....

ACROSS THE WORLD DOCTORS SAY 211-THOUSAND ARE DEAD ......UP 42-HUNDRED ....880-THOUSAND HAVE RECOVERED.

ON THE TRENDLINE THIS MORNING.....

I WANT TO GIVE CAUTION TO ALL THE ENCOURAGING NUMBERS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE....THE NUMBERS HERE ARE THE RESULT OF SUNDAY’S  REPORTING....ON WEEKENDS THOSE NUMBERS HAVE IN MOST WEEKS BEEN UNDER-REPORTED....BUT LET'S GIVE SOME PERSPECTIVE HERE....THE LAST 2 DAYS I'VE TOLD YOU U-S DEATHS HAVE BEEN AROUND 12-HUNDRED....THE TREND HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN JUST OVER 2-THOUSAND....SO LET'S SEE WHAT THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS HOLDS....IF THAT NUMBER COMES IN ANYWHERE 25-HUNDRED OR LESS TODAY, THAT WILL SHOW A 3 DAY ROLLING AVERAGE BELOW THE 7 DAY, AND "COULD" MEAN WE'VE SEEN A PEAK....AGAIN, WE WILL SEE.

ONE THING IS INDISPUTABLE ....ND'S TESTING SAMPLE FROM YESTERDAY WAS THE HIGHEST SINGLE DAY TOTAL YET.....1,987.

HERE ARE YOUR TUESDAY MORNING HEADLINES -

WZFG RADIO HAS LEARNED THAT Fargo Police have seen a rise in overdoses and domestic violence as the region has battled the COVID-19 pandemic.  Chief David Todd, APPEARING LAST NIGHT ON THE NIGHTLY REVIEW, THAT compared to last year, total calls were down approximately 25% in the 30 day period ending April 13th….BUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CALLS WERE UP 18%, FROM 248 TO 290 AND OVERDOSES DOUBLED FROM 3 TO 6….Todd, a guest on the Nightly Review Radio Show, says the overdoses have resulted in loss of life as well, but did not know how many died.  HE says mental health calls are starting to go up as well as people face challenges of limited social interaction and loss of employment.

TODAY WE WILL GET THE LIST OF REQUIREMENTS FOR ND BARS, RESTAURANTS, GYMS, SALONS AND OTHER BUSINESSES CLOSED OR SIGNIFICANTLY LIMITED BY ND GOVERNOR DOUG BURGUM...YESTERDAY HE ANNOUNCED THAT HE INTENDS TO LET HIS CURRENT EXECUTIVE ORDER EXPIRE ON THURSDAY THAT INITIATED THE CLOSINGS….HE SAID THE STATE HAS MADE GOOD PROGRESS IN THE 8 AREAS HE NEEDS TO SEE IN ORDER TO RELAX RULES, AND UNLESS SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS IN THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS HE WILL allow the executive order to expire Thursday. SOT

BURGUM SAYS North Dakota is using less than 1 percent of its hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients, ranks sixth in the nation in testing per capita, and has the fifth-lowest positive test rate, at 4.2 percent. Testing and contact tracing of positive cases continues to grow more robust as well.....

HE SAYS THE 2 AREAS THAT ARE NOT YET WHERE THEY NEED TO BE FOR A RESTART ARE PROTECTIONS FOR SENIORS & "AT RISK" INDIVIDUALS....”AND” GUIDELINES FOR ADJUSTED BUSINESS ACTIVITY FOR THOSE SECTORS WHO ARE BEING REOPENED....THOSE WILL BE ADDRESSED TODAY....

.HE SAYS THE BIGGEST NUMBER HE IS WATCHING IS THE PERCENT POSITIVE RATE.....AND WHILE BUSINESSES MAY GET A REPRIEVE ON FRIDAY,  BURGUM SAYS HE IS NOT READY TO REOPEN SCHOOLS OR NURSING HOMES.

ND Job service says about 9,000 self-employed North Dakota residents who have applied for benefits will begin receiving their payments this week….all of the 9,023 applicants will be mailed a debit card and a letter in the next few days. The initial payments will be put onto the debit card, although future payments may be eligible for direct deposit. ...Those workers will also receive the extra $600 per week payment that others receiving the jobless payments have been getting for the past two weeks. 

THE NEXT ROUND OF PUBLIC TESTING TAKES PLACE IN DICKINSON TODAY...THE TESTING IS INVITE ONLY TODAY, BUT TOMORROW WILL BE OPENED TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO KNOW IF THEY CURRENTLY HAVE THE VIRUS...TESTING WILL START AT 10 AM AND GO UNTIL 3 PM OR UNTIL THE TESTING KITS ARE GONE….

ND State HEALTH OFFICIALS citing medical privacy SAY THEY WILL NOT DISCLOSE whether the Cass County deaths are tied to nursing homes. A total of 61 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in 10 long-term care facilities in Fargo, including 22 at Eventide.

Essentia Health SAYS IT HAS BEGUN ANTIBODY TESTING....SEROLOGY TESTING, AS IT'S OFFICIALLY CALLED, COULD HELP DETERMINE if someone has had recent or prior infection with THE VIRUS THAT causes COVID-19….PATHOLOGY DIRECTOR Dr. Elena Rodgers-Rieger TELLS WZFG RADIO THAT THE TESTS ARE CURRENTLY BEING SENT TO THE MAYO CLINIC FOR PROCESSING, BUT THAT WILL SOON BE DONE INTERNALLY...SHE SAYS ESSENTIA IS ALSO NOW ABLE TO GIVE PLASMA WITH ANTIBODIES TO PATIENTS IN HOSPITAL CARE.

THE FORUM REPORTS THAT A pair of North Dakota engineers have DESIGNED A PRODUCT USED TO HELP decontaminate personal protective equipment such as N95 masks.....The University of Nebraska Medical Center IS ABLE TO decontaminate the PPE using germ-killing ultraviolet light, called UV-C, in a room painted with THEIR UV-reflective paint called Lumacept….THE PAINT WAS CREATED BY Twilight Labs, which is co-owned by Todd Pringle, of Reile’s Acres, N.D., and Brian Tande, the dean of Engineering and Mines at UND.

Twelve of the 14 newly reported deaths IN MINNESOTA  involved residents of long-term care facilities. Despite the disclosure Sunday of a COVID-19 victim who was 44, the median age of death rose to 86 on Monday.

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to announce later this week whether he will extend a statewide stay-at-home order, which is slated to end May 4. The order was designed to reduce transmission by 80%, buying time for hospitals to add more critical care…

ABOUT 20-THOUSAND BUSINESSES ACROSS MINNESOTA WERE ALLOWED TO RESUME ACTIVITIES MONDAY.....WALZ MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT LAST WEEK THAT INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND OFFICE BUILDINGS THAT DON'T DIRECTLY INTERACT WITH CUSTOMERS COULD OPEN WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING RULES IN PLACE.....ABOUT 100-THOUSAND RESIDENTS ARE EMPLOYED AT SUCH BUSINESSES…

MINNESOTA AG Commissioner Tom Petersen estimates more than 50 percent of Minnesota hogs are processed at the two plants THAT HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN.. THE PROBLEM IS... there’s a narrow window when pigs are an ideal weight to send to the processing facility....THE MINNESOTA POST REPORTS IT'S RESULTING IN A BACKLOG OF between 100,000 and 200,000 pigs per week. Farmers are using feed that causes pigs to gain weight more slowly and keeping them on their farms for longer in some cases....BUT PETERSON SAYS MANY PIGS WILL HAVE TO BE EUTHANIZED…

The White House IS UNVEILING A PLAN to make enough COVID tests available so states can sample at least 2.6% of their populations each month. Areas that have been harder hit  would be able to test at double that rate.... Trump and administration medical experts outlined the plan on a call with governors Monday afternoon….TRUMP SAYS MORE TESTING CAPABILITY IS ARRIVING EVERY DAY AND WHAT THE U-S IS DOING IS NOW THE ENVY OF THE WORLD.....SOT