For the foreseeable future, MinnPost will be providing daily updates on coronavirus in Minnesota, published following the press phone call with members of the Walz administration each afternoon.

Here are the latest updates from May 14, 2020:

• 13,435 confirmed cases; 663 deaths
• Minnesota National Guard deployed to help with long-term care testing
• Gathering guidelines
• New MDH dashboard

13,435 confirmed cases; 663 deaths

Twenty-five more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Thursday, for a total of 663.

Of the deaths announced Thursday were one person over 100, six people in their nineties, seven in their eighties, eight in their seventies, two in their fifties and one in their thirties believed to have underlying health conditions.

The deceased were residents of the following counties: Hennepin (14), Anoka (2), Stearns (2), Ramsey (2), Brown (1), Clay (1), Dakota (1), Polk (1) and Washington (1). Twenty-one of the 25 were residents of long-term care.

The current death toll only includes Minnesotans with lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 tests. Nine Minnesotans are listed as probable COVID-19 deaths, meaning the virus was listed as their cause of death but not confirmed by a lab test.

MDH also said Thursday there have been 13,435 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota, up 518 from Wednesday’s count. Because Minnesota is only now developing the capacity to test everybody with symptoms, the number of confirmed cases of the virus is assumed to be significantly higher.

Since the start of the outbreak, 1,915 Minnesotans have been hospitalized and 498 are currently in the hospital, 203 in intensive care. Of the 13,435 confirmed positive cases in Minnesota, 8,473 no longer need to be isolated, which means they are believed to have recovered.

A total of 128,752 COVID-19 tests have been completed in Minnesota.

More information on cases can be found here.

Minnesota National Guard deployed to help with long-term care testing

Twenty members of the Minnesota National Guard have been deployed to help with the state’s plan to protect Minnesotans in long-term care facilities, Emergency Management Director Joe Kelly said.

National Guard members who are trained medics are helping to perform the nasopharyngeal swabbing needed to collect samples in long-term care facilities.

Gathering guidelines

When Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order ends Monday, Minnesotans will be allowed to gather in groups of 10 or fewer. Health officials outlined some practical tips for doing so safely, including:

• Social distancing: staying at least 6 feet apart;
• Being outside, where there’s more airflow, if possible;
• Don’t gather with people who are ill (but remember, many people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, so it’s important to take precautions regardless of whether people are ill nor not);
• Be extra careful around people who are older or have underlying health conditions, limiting face-to-face interactions with them;
• Be mindful of not crowding when entering or exiting gatherings as well as during them.

New MDH dashboard

MDH has launched another dashboard, this one designed to help Minnesotans and public officials make decisions about when it might be time to once again tighten restrictions on interactions based on COVID-19’s progression in the state.

It looks at: whether Minnesota’s molecular testing capacity is sufficient, whether the share of positive cases out of total tests is high or changing quickly, whether case counts are doubling quickly and whether a significant number of cases have no known exposure (or that number increases quickly).

According to the most recent data on the page, Minnesota is in the clear on all the measures, except unknown exposures, which account for 36 percent of cases.

Today on MinnPost

• Walz let stay-at-home expire (with a phased reopening of businesses). Here’s coverage of that announcement, plus reactions.
• But what does it mean? Here’s what you need to know about businesses and workers.
• Legislators really want a say in where Minnesota’s slice of federal COVID-19 money goes.
• The Minnesota COVID-19 model got an update, unveiled Wednesday. Here’s a primer on what it looks like.
• Asking yourself how long it’s been since this all started? Us too. 
• As always, a look at the numbers on the MinnPost COVID-19 dashboard.

Around the web

• With more and more businesses looking to reopen, how can they do so safely? In the New Yorker, surgeon Atul Gawande explains the steps his hospital has taken during the pandemic to keep staff members safe.
• Politico’s got testing data by state. Minnesota — not lookin’ so hot. 
• Tech workers in Silicon Valley are getting tired of working from home from cramped apartments. Some are planning their exodus, Bloomberg reports.
• Some people in the U.S. on work visas may have to leave, reports the New York times in a story featuring a Minnesota couple.

MDH’s coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html

Hotline, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 651-201-3920