Star Tribune
COVID infections decline despite viral variant in Minnesota
Coronavirus levels in Minnesota have declined so far this year after a steady increase at the end of 2023, despite the emergence of a viral variant that has been a leading cause of COVID-19 growth worldwide.
COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates remain elevated in Minnesota, according to Thursday’s weekly state update, but health officials expect them to decline if coronavirus levels continue to diminish. Sampling at 38 wastewater treatment plants across Minnesota found increases in viral levels after Thanksgiving, and again after Christmas, but then a 34% decline in early January.
“I think its starting to come down right now across the country,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “The real challenge is just interpreting what’s next.”
The state tests wastewater to assess how much coronavirus is in Minnesota, and analyzes lab specimens from a handful of people with COVID-19 to determine which viral variants are at work. The latest results showed startling growth in the JN.1 variant, which caused 1% of Minnesota’s coronavirus infections at the start of November, but 63% by the end of December.
Osterholm said JN.1 caused COVID growth in some parts of the world this winter, because it can evade immunity in people who have been vaccinated or had prior infections. However, he said it surprisingly didn’t emerge in Minnesota and other states until COVID growth was already underway.
Respiratory viruses have caused many surprises like that this winter, he added. Minnesota has shown minimal influenza activity all winter, for example, even in weeks when bordering states and much of the country posted high to very high flu levels.
“It’s humbling. There’s something going on there that we just can’t understand or explain,” Osterholm said.
Minnesota’s weekly influenza update on Thursday showed a decline in flu-related hospitalizations, and a relatively low total of 51 flu deaths so far this season.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Minnesota reached a peak of 536 on Jan. 2, but dropped to 324 on Tuesday. COVID-19 deaths reached nearly eight per day in early January, but that rate appears to be declining as well. Risks remain greatest in Minnesotans 65 and older, who make up 108 of the 112 COVID-19 deaths identified since Dec. 31.
Infections with JN.1 have been somewhat different from other forms of COVID-19, involving digestive symptoms and classic cold symptoms such as sore throat, Osterholm said. The variant might produce milder cases as well, but still a lot of severe illnesses that don’t show up in hospital statistics.
“People are in bed for four to five days, like they have been hit by a Mack truck,” he said. “They are not getting that seriously ill that they need hospitalization, but it’s like a bad flu hit.”
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
