COVID-19 News: Latest SW MN COVID-19 Case Rates determine school openings

In Minnesota, Governor Walz’s administration has come up with guidelines for how schools are allowed to open. Part of it depends on what is known as the “case rate”. That refers to how many people per 10,000 residents in each county have tested positive for COVID-19.

Under current guidelines, if there are nine-or-fewer positive COVID-19 cases in a county, the schools are allowed to have in-person learning for all students. In the worst-case scenario, 50-or-more positive tests per 10,000 residents, schools must have distance learning for all students. Most schools in the state are currently somewhere in-between, and doing a hybrid learning model — at least for the beginning of the school year.

On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Health released it’s latest 14-day case rates for each county in Minnesota.  This latest update covers from August 2 to August 15.

Here are the case rates per 10,000 residents from some southern Minnesota counties, compared to the rates from the previous measuring period in late July:

Blue Earth – 19, down from 22
Brown – 6, steady from the previous period
Cottonwood – 11, down from ten
Lyon – 6, up from five
McLeod – 32, up from 25
Redwood – 5, up from four
Renville – 5, down from eight
Watonwan – 25, up from 24

The Minnesota Department of Health says there are 50 counties in the state with case rates from 0-9.  There are no counties with case rates above 50, an improvement from earlier in the summer.