With the federal declaration of the end of the public health emergency earlier this month, North Shore Health announced its care center never recorded a coronavirus case.
In 2020, COVID-19 was the cause for one out of every 10 deaths in Minnesota. But "deaths of despair," such as overdoses, firearms and malnutrition, contributed to the state's higher death rate.
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"Since the state's free test program began last April, more than 2.5 million free tests have been delivered to Minnesota households," Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said in a statement.
Minnesota launched its COVID-19 telehealth treatment pilot program Monday, which will allow Minnesotans who test positive to access care and therapeutics, like Paxlovid, at no cost.
Legislators passed a bill this spring to provide $500 million in bonus checks to workers who had to report to their jobs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and put themselves at greater risk than those who were able to work remotely.
For Fay Haataja the post-COVID program at Essentia Health helped her overcome debilitating headaches, brain fog and long-term memory loss after more than a year of symptoms.
Midway through the pandemic’s third year, the changing measures of the COVID-19 outbreak have made it trickier to understand how much coronavirus is circulating and the prospects for another surge.
Even though wastewater surveillance is proving to be the most accurate and economical way to gauge COVID activity in communities across the country, funding for this type of tracking hasn’t been consistent. And data collection is sometimes paused while wastewater researchers look for new ways to pay for the surveillance. Besides COVID, the technique is being used to track the spread of monkeypox.
