MinnPost provides updates on coronavirus in Minnesota Sunday through Friday. The information is published following a press phone call with members of the Walz administration or after the release of daily COVID-19 figures by the Minnesota Department of Health.
Here are the latest updates from October 23, 2020:
- 129,863 cases; 2,314 deaths
- It could be a long winter: here are some mental health resources
- Update on multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — and adults
129,863 cases; 2,314 deaths
Thirteen more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Friday, for a total of 2,314.
Of the people whose deaths were announced Friday, one person was in their 40s, two in their 50s, two in their 60s, three in their 70s, four in their 80s and one in their 90s. Two of the 13 deaths announced Friday were of residents of long-term care facilities.
MDH also said Friday there have been 129,863 total cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The number of positives is up 1,711 from Thursday’s count and is based on 26,742 new tests. You can find the seven-day positive case average here.
The increase in recent cases reflects more transmission of COVID-19 across the state — not just that more tests are being done, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Friday.
The current caseload and death toll combines Minnesotans with positive PCR tests and positive antigen tests approved under a Food and Drug emergency authorization use. MDH added antigen tests to case counts on Oct. 14.
The most recent data available show 163 Minnesotans are hospitalized in intensive care with COVID-19, and 421 are in the hospital with COVID-19 not in intensive care. You can find more information about Minnesota’s current ICU usage and capacity here.
While hospitalization numbers are still lower than they were in May, the numbers are climbing, Malcolm said.
More information on cases can be found here.
It could be a long winter, and mental health resources available
This could be a particularly tough winter in Minnesota, said Tai Mendenhall, a licensed marriage and family therapist from the University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps on the MDH call Friday.
In normal years, many Minnesotans struggle more with mental health over the winter, when the state is cold and dark much of the time.
This year could be particularly hard, with stress over the coronavirus and how to navigate family holiday expectations in the middle of the pandemic, Mendenhall said.
“Just about any single symptom that is pretty normal in the winter, like a scratchy throat, is going to be connected to these worries — do I have COVID? How many people have I infected? Am I going to die?” he said.
Mendenhall urged Minnesotans who are struggling to connect with others — even if it’s a weekly Zoom call with friends or family, and seek professional help if they need it.
Malcolm stressed that free phone support is available to anyone experiencing stress through COVID Cares, a collaboration between the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, Minnesota Psychological Association, Minnesota Black Psychologists and Mental Health Minnesota. The phone line, reachable at 833-HERE4MN (437-3466), is available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. (Here’s a MinnPost piece from over the summer on COVID Cares.)
More information about mental health, substance abuse and other support is available here.
Update on multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — and adults
MDH gave its monthly update on multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition believed to be connected to COVID-19.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield said Minnesota has had 28 documented cases of MIS-C in the course of the pandemic, and no deaths out of more than 20,000 cases of COVID-19 among Minnesotans ages 0 to 19. Eighty-eight percent of these cases tested positive for COVID-19, and the remainder were exposed to a known positive case.
Two-thirds of children diagnosed with MIS-C were previously healthy, and all were hospitalized. More than half required intensive care. All had fevers, 86 percent had gastrointestinal symptoms, more than 70 percent had evidence of heart involvement, including echocardiogram abnormalities.
The age of children with MIS-C ranged from six months to 16 years, and the average age was 5.5 years. Black and Hispanic children are disproportionately affected.
Lynfield also called attention to a Centers for Disease Control report that came out earlier this month about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A). Twenty-seven cases of MIS-A have been identified in adults in the U.S. and U.K.
Adults with MIS-A reported cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, dermatologic and neurological symptoms, and that these symptoms began between two and five weeks after acute COVID-19 infection.
Although rare, MIS-A is potentially severe, so Lynfield said people with potential symptoms should be evaluated.
Today on MinnPost
- Greater Minnesota now bearing the brunt of the state’s COVID-19 death toll.
- Could regional differences of opinion on Minnesota’s handling of COVID offer the GOP an opportunity?
- 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
- A powerful argument for wearing a mask, in visual form, from the Washington Post
- New cases hit three-month high as COVID-19 hospitalizations soar: CNN.
- The worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. are now in rural areas, reports the New York Times.
MDH’s coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html
MDH’s phone line for COVID-19 questions, Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m: 651-297-1304
Should we all be investing in vitamin D supplements & sad lamps to avoid quarantine depression?
This response is to Elisa Wright, the first commenter, above.
For questions about medical apparatus, such as light therapy lights, it is best to speak with a medical professional, such as a psychiatrist. Some medications can be helpful, although some have short term side effects lasting for a week or two, which may include nausea, headaches and heightened libido. I know this through experience and personal consultation with my psychiatrist, who I see for moderate depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Whenever discussing the use of a medication, please make a point of asking what the side effects may be and how long they usually last. However, the long term positive effects of a medication tend to outweigh the short term side effects. Throughout the past forty years of my experience with medications, I have found great inroads and greater comfort with newer medications as well as newer ways of understanding and using medications when guided by a medical professional.
Please limit alcohol consumption and avoid illegal drugs, especially when depressed or isolated. Talk to friends, family, and call-in centers (as provided below).
The best thing to do if you have questions about what to do about feelings of isolation, loneliness, depression or suicidal thought is to connect with an outpatient psychology or psychiatry professional — unless your concern is one of an emergency, at which point you should go into an emergency department at a local hospital. Free assistance is available if you look for it and do not have insurance which covers outpatient mental health care.
Readers and their families and friends can get information about call-in lines by calling United Way’s First Call for Help at 211 or 651-291-0211, or by contacting the MN Disability Hub at 1-866-333-2466. MinnPost has placed this information elsewhere in the article. Wait times on calls are usually not very long, if at all present. University of Minnesota Medical Center (M Health), Allina, and Hennepin County Medical Center have resource in the Hennepin County area. You might call your city’s main number for help in being directed to mental health support in your community. In Minneapolis, it is 311 or 612-673-3000, for information on where to turn for guidance. However, I have included listings here, and the Greta Kaul did an excellent job of providing other information.
First Call for Help indicated that they have a call-in line for the LGBTQ community. For men and women, or boys and girls, who have been victims of sexual violence, please call the 24-hour hotline of Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis at 612-871-5111. They offer consultations and direction to programs involving recuperation from incidences of sexual violence by a member of one’s family, a significant other or acquaintance, or by a stranger.
The National Suicide Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. If you or a loved one is experiencing a suicide threat, the Minneapolis emergency dispatch operator who added to this article suggested that you call 911 for an ambulance to take you or your loved one to a nearby hospital for evaluation. If the threat is not so immediate, but you are wondering if you should be hospitalized or otherwise be in the care of an outpatient doctor, and if you live in Hennepin County, please call Hennepin County COPE at 612-596-1223. Hennepin County COPE is staffed by licensed social workers and will evaluate people by telephone to determine if a hospital visit is necessary. Prior to the pandemic, COPE staff visited their clients at home. This service is 100% paid for by tax dollars.
Also, Hennepin County Walk In Counseling Center is at 612-870-0565 in Hennepin County (call them for the telephone number in Ramsey County), or Google “Hennepin County walk in counseling center.” Hennepin County Mental Health Center is at 612-596-9438, for Hennepin County residents.
Chat lines staffed by peer support specialists who are certified by the State of Minnesota sometimes have waiting times, and you may need to call back after waiting for a while. The peer support line staffed by http://www.mentalhealthmn.org staff has interesting guitar and wind instrument music and one may hold for as long as it takes to speak to someone; every three minutes, a recording comes on which states what place a caller in is, in the queue. Their telephone number, for Minnesota residents, is 651-288-0400. Their hours are noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Wellness in the Woods’ Peer Support Connection has both a call in line and a virtual peer support network staffed online. Please go to their website at https://www.mnwitw.org/ for more information and a calendar of topics and hours. Their telephone number, from 5pm to 9am every day, is 1-844-739-6369. Both of the lines I have mentioned have twenty-minutes chat times, and you may talk about whatever is relevant to your situation, if only to touch base with someone and have a friendly chat. Neither iof these lines is a crisis line, but they can help get you in touch with the National Suicide Hotline if you are in need.
Please note that the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has a resource line, but it is not a chat or crisis line. This information was given to me by a friend and fellow Macalester College alum, Sue Abderholden, who is a long time director for NAMI Minnesota. The State of Minnesota website which you may be directed, and which mentions NAMI’s telephone number,in Greta Kaul’s article does not make this fact abundantly clear, and many people on Facebook, including well-known reporters, have suggested that NAMI’s toll free line is a suicide help hotline. Emphatically, it is not a suicide or chat hotline. It is a resource line to find out about programs. It is staffed during regular business hours during weekdays.
COVID-19 has brought us many new insights into ourselves during periods of higher than typical unemployment, seclusion and closer quarters with family than we were accustomed to before the pandemic began to affect movement. I swear by using a facemask whenever I leave my home, even for a short while. This serves to remind me that I may be a risk to others, and that others may be a risk to me. As one with pre-existing conditions which tend to heighten my risk of catching the virus, I care to play it safe. I do not think of wearing a mask or not wearing a mask as a political statement. It is based on sound and proven medical advice that has been developed not only in the U.S. but around the world. China has had especially good results in keeping the virus at bay because people there listen to medical and governmental authorities who base their recommendations and mandates on reason, evidence, and concern for the entire community.
Wearing a mask is not “anti-American” but good decision-making. I am an American before all else, other than my religious and philosophical identities. I care to be healthy, so I use the resources available to me, including wearing a mask to keep myself, my family and my friends (some of whom are in their seventies and eighties) safe from harm. I am from an upper middle class family of legal and medical professionals, and am an educator working with medical and engineering personnel in the U.S. and abroad.
My interest in mental health stems from my own history of difficulty, particularly when I was in high school and college three and four decades ago. In 2011, at a retirement party for MN State Senator Larry Pogemiller, newly elected MN State Senator Kari Dziedzic and I had a conversation where she encouraged me to apply for an appointment on the Hennepin County Adult Mental Health Advisory Council. I did, and was eventually appointed by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners for a three year term. We reported directly to the Board of Commissioners and secondarily to the Governor of Minnesota. During that time, I learned a lot about the mental health community, particularly in Hennepin County. I hope this has been helpful.