Case rates in the area have generally been increasing in recent weeks, as have the rates across the state. Last week's report listed 19 of the state's 87 counties with rates of 30 or higher. This week, 35 counties are at 30 or higher. Six of them are among the counties tracked by the West Central Tribune.
Pope County is one of nine counties in the state with case rates higher than 50.
Four counties had double-digit increases in their case rate — Pope, up 22.77; Yellow Medicine, up 19.26; Swift, up 14.88; and Redwood, up 13.05.
Five counties increased their case rates by single digits — Big Stone, up 3.99; Kandiyohi, up 6.79; Meeker, up 8.23; Stearns, up 9.12; and Chippewa, up 9.99.
Two counties had lower case rates: Renville, down 3.4; and Lac qui Parle, down 5.9.
The case rate measures the county’s number of newly confirmed cases over a two-week period per 10,000 residents. The state divides the number of new cases by the number found by dividing a county’s population by 10,000.
School districts track positive cases and quarantine activity in their buildings and consult with public health officials and others to determine how to operate their schools during the pandemic. The case rate is one factor they may consider. The Minnesota Department of Health releases the case rate report at 11 a.m. each Thursday.
The state considers a 14-day case rate of 10 or higher to represent an elevated risk of COVID-19 transmission in the community, especially when the level is sustained or increases over time.
This list includes the current case rate per 10,000 residents for area counties from March 7 to March 20 and how it changed from a week ago:
- Big Stone County: 31.90, up
- Chippewa County: 35.80, up
- Kandiyohi County: 26.72, up
- Lac qui Parle County: 22.15, down
- Meeker County: 21.23, up
- Pope County: 59.20, up
- Redwood County: 18.92, up
- Renville County: 30.57, down
- Stearns County: 30.93, up
- Swift County: 27.63, up
- Yellow Medicine County: 32.43, up
Separately, the Minnesota Department of Health each week also updates its list of school buildings that reported five or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in students or staff who were in the building while infectious during a two-week reporting period.
Area school buildings on the list are as follows: MACCRAY Senior High, Clara City; Willmar Middle School, Willmar; Minnewaska Secondary, Glenwood; BOLD Middle School, Olivia; and BOLD Senior High School, Olivia.
School buildings that have not reported a new case for 28 days will be removed. If five or more cases are reported in a school building in a subsequent two-week period, they will once again be listed.
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