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. 

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

IN NORTH DAKOTA THE PERCENT POSITIVE TEST RATE CONTINUES STABLE AT 2.6 PERCENT (57 POSITIVE OUT OF 2,211 TESTS)....BUT THE BIG NUMBER WEDNESDAY - 6 REPORTED DEATHS. -- 5 FROM CASS COUNTY...ALL WITH UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS...FOUR OF THEM WERE 90 OR OLDER......STATEWIDE 22 DEATHS ARE “FROM” THE VIRUS, 3 ARE FROM ANOTHER PRIMARY CAUSE, AND 6 WHERE FINAL RESULTS ARE PENDING...THE HOSPITALIZED COUNT IS UP 1 AT  32.....CASS COUNTY HAD 43 OF THE 57 NEW POSITIVE TESTS

IN MINNESOTA, THE END IS STILL A WAYS OFF.....728 POSITIVES OUT OF 5,213 TESTS..BOTH RECORD HIGHS....BUT THE PERCENT POSITIVE IS ACTUALLY VERY CLOSE TO THE 14 DAY AVERAGE.....AND JUST LIKE NORTH DAKOTA - A RECORD NUMBER OF DEATHS REPORTED IN MINNESOTA.....30.........443 ARE HOSPITALIZED  - 188 IN ICU...THOSE NUMBERS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO THE DAY BEFORE AND ABOVE THE 14 DAY AVERAGE...IN CLAY COUNTY, NO NEW DEATHS - 14 IN ALL....

IN SOUTH DAKOTA, 29 HAVE DIED, 5 MORE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS.....THAT'S 8 IN THE LAST 2 DAYS.....BASICALLY 25%........72 ARE CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED, THAT'S DOWN 3 FROM THE DAY BEFORE

ACROSS THE U-S....ABOUT 22-HUNDRED, THE TOTAL NOW STANDING AT JUST OVER 74-THOUSAND....VERY CLOSE TO THE 7 AND 14 DAY AVERAGES.......NEW CASES ARE DOWN, ABOUT 20-THOUSAND INSTEAD OF THE 2 WEEK AVERAGE OF 28-THOUSAND....ABOUT 16-THOUSAND ARE HOSPITALIZED.

HERE ARE YOUR THURSDAY EVENING HEADLINES -

ON A DAY WHERE CASS COUNTY HAD THREE-FOURTHS OF THE POSITIVE TESTS REPORTED ACROSS THE STATE, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ANNOUNCED A TASK FORCE TO STEM THE TIDE SPECIFICALLY IN CASS COUNTY....IT WILL SERVE AT RISK POPULATIONS LIKE NEW AMERICANS, THE HOMELESS, AND NURSING HOMES...THE COUNTY NOW HAS 643 known cases — more than half of the state's total.....SO THE GOVERNOR IS TEAMING UP WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS IN FGO AND WEST FARGO TO RAMP UP TESTING ACROSS THE METRO.....CASS COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIR CHAD PETERSON SAYS THE REGION IS COUNTING ON US TO HANDLE THIS WELL....SOT

GOVERNOR BURGUM SAYS THE RESOURCES WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE FROM CLAY COUNTY SINCE THE 2 COUNTIES ARE SO INTERTWINED....THE STATE LISTS 23 PEOPLE FROM CASS COUNTY AMONG THE 31 TO DIE WITH SOME ELEMENT OF THE VIRUS

The death of a woman in her 90s from Grand Forks County represents the first fatality in the state's third most populous county.

ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT WEDNESDAY IN BISMARCK....THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE IS APPROVING ON SITE GRADUATIONS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS....EVEN THOUGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN CLOSED FOR ONSITE CLASSES, THAT RULE WILL BE RELAXED IF SCHOOLS PERFORM CEREMONIES THAT COMPLY WITH RULES FOR SOCIAL DISTANCE AND CLEANLINESS....

BURGUM ALSO SAID THAT THE BACKLOG OF 5-THOUSAND TESTS AT THE STATE LAB IS DOWN TO 18-HUNDRED.....THE BACKLOG CAME AFTER SOME TESTING SUPPLIES RAN OUT AT THE LAB.

HE ALSO MENTIONED THAT THE STATE HAS BEEN RATED THE THIRD LEAST RESTRICTIVE STATE IN THE COUNTRY....IT'S FROM A WALLET HUB RANKING THAT SCORES STATES BASED ON THE NUMBER OF THINGS CLOSED DOWN....SOUTH DAKOTA RANKS ONE, AND UTAH COMES IN SECOND.

The ND Department of Mineral Resources has established the Bakken Restart Task Force to facilitate rapid recovery of the oil and gas industry….THE STATE HAD BEEN PRODUCING ABOUT 1.5 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL PER DAY BUT THAT NUMBER’S BEEN SLASHED TO ABOUT A MILLION…...THE TASK FORCE WILL FOCUS ON 3 AREAS - REGULATORY RELIEF, ECONOMIC STIMULUS, AND LOW COST FINANCING.

IN MINNESOTA, THE ONGOING STORY IS NURSING HOMES....More than three-fourths of WEDNESDAY’S' 30 REPORTED deaths involved elderly residents of long-term care facilities.....STATE INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIRECTOR KRIS ERESMANN WAS ASKED ABOUT RESIDENTS WHO ARE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL AND IMPROVE...THEY ARE NOW BEING SENT BACK TO THE NURSING HOME IF CERTAIN PROTOCOLS ARE IN PLACE........SOT

WEDNESDAY’S 5,223 tests by MINNESOTA LABS SETS A RECORD FOR SINGLE DAY TESTING... That NUMBER meets one of the goals of Gov. Tim Walz, who wanted the state to be testing at a rate of 5,000 patients per day at the start of this week....THE STATE HAS SIGNED A 36 MILLION DOLLAR DEAL WITH THE UNIV OF MINNESOTA AND THE MAYO CLINIC TO TEST 20,000 PEOPLE PER DAY....

THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH IS ASKING LAWMAKERS IN ST. PAUL TO FUND THE ADDITION OF 4,200 contact tracers to map out COVID-19 spread in Minnesota, THAT'S 10 TIMES MORE THAN THE STATE INITIALLY SAID WOULD BE NEEDED.....

The median age of all cases in Minnesota so far is 46, and the median age of death is 83 — with a range from 30 to 109....WEDNESDAY SAW THE FIRST DEATH IN MAHNOMEN COUNTY IN NW MINNESOTA....THE COUNTY HAS 2 ACTIVE CASES OF COVID 19

A group of small business owners and churches are plaintiffs in a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for Minnesota to strike down Gov. Tim Walz's stay-at-home order…..The churches are asking that they be allowed to hold in-person services. The businesses include a chain of hair salons, a gift shop and a minigolf course in Blaine. They're arguing that Walz's orders violate the Constitution and that they deserve compensation….the plaintiffs say they feel like they've been unfairly asked to close while businesses like liquor stores remain open.

The JBS Worthington meat processing plant partially reopened operations Wednesday….The facility closed last month after around 500 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus….The reopening of the plant follows President Trump signing an executive order to keep meat processors open during the pandemic….. JBS will be operating with reduced staff.

MDH officials on Wednesday accused other states in the region of not accurately counting deaths.....Kris Ehresmann, said Minnesota has placed a heavier emphasis on testing people in long-term care settings, who are often elderly and at higher risk ...Minnesota is then more likely to accurately identify when people die from coronavirus compared to OTHER CAUSES….

THE STARTRIBUNE REPORTS THAT Target Corp. is sharing its COVID-19 safety toolkit — including employee health screening checklists and social-distancing signs that can be printed out — to provide a potential roadmap for other retailers and businesses as they look to reopen in the coming weeks.....The Minneapolis-based retailer also said this week it has received more than 10,000 pre-orders for infrared thermometers from Minnesota businesses. Last week, Target began offering them at wholesale cost to businesses across the state after finding a supplier of the high-demand products.

IN OTHER NEWS.....A group attempting to get a wide-ranging measure on the November ballot filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday asking that North Dakota’s ban on electronic signature gathering be waived amid the coronavirus pandemic.....The lawsuit by North Dakota Voters First also asks the state to temporarily waive its requirement for “in-person petition circulators” and allow for online signature gathering......The group faces a July 6 deadline to submit at least 26,904 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The group argues the COVID-19 outbreak “creates an environment that is impossible to comply” with the laws.

Matthew Gilbertson has announced a bid to run for a Ward 1 seat on the Moorhead City Council in the Nov. 3 general election.....HE'S A CHIROPRACTOR AND BUSINESS OWNER....He and his wife, Kim, have three children....THE  seat IS CURRENTLY held by Sara Watson Curry, who is not seeking reelection.

AND WITH NO SPORTS OUT THERE TO WATCH, OR PLAY....HOW ABOUT FISHING!!!!  AS OF LAST FRIDAY, THE Minnesota DNR had sold 320,523 fishing licenses, compared with 217,100 licenses the Friday a week before fishing opener last year.   THE GF HERALD REPORTS THAT As of Wednesday, April 29, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department had sold 59,500 resident fishing licenses, a 37% increase over last year.