The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-13)

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020 .THEWASHINGTON POST EZ SU A


Case counts are skyrocketing
throughout theMidwest, with
Illinois reporting 12,702 cases
Thursday, arecord, and Kansas
reportingtworecord-high case
counts this week.
“Noweven in rural America
peopleare thinking maybe I
shouldpay attention to this,”
said Liz Stedry, 44,aproperty
manager and motherofablend-
ed family of eight in Prairie
Village,Kan., including 16-year-
old twins withcystic fibrosis.
Stedry’smother isacounty
commissioner in Jefferson
County, Kan., which approved a
mask ordinance Monday; the
countycommissioner pushed for
one for weeks.
Stedryand her family have
been in quarantine since
Wednesday, after her husband
andtwoofthe children came
down with mild cases of covid-
19.
“The numbers are crazy scary.
You wantthemtobekids but you
worryabout it. I’mactually hap-
py it ’s aforced quarantine,” she
said.“Now theothershavetobe
at home, too, until the time is
up.”
Last week, SouthDakota’s
newdaily reported cases rose by
roughly9percent; thestatealso
reported an 18.2 percent in-
creaseindaily deaths anda26.
percent uptick in hospitaliza-
tions,accordingtoWashington
Post data. TheSouth Dakota
Department ofHealth reported
2,020 newcoronavirus infec-
tions Thursday,arecord for
positive results in a24-hour
period.
Despite this, its largestcity,
Sioux Falls, rejected amask
mandateTuesday, and manyin
the statejustdon’t seem to think
masks are necessary.Gov.Kristi
L. Noem (R) has takenalaissez-
faireattitude toward the virus
and has refused to issueastate-
wide mask mandate or other
controls.
Erin Blake, 42,amother of
five in Sioux Falls, saidshe
believes masks negativelyaffect
children and thatadults should
be free to choose whether to
wear them.
Masks, she said,“impactso-
cialization and education of chil-
dren.”
Masks are one of the most
effectivetoolsatfighting the
coronavirus, public health offi-
cials say, and help protectthe
wearerand others.
Noem’s spokesman,Ian Fury,
said thatNoemhad no intention
of changing her approach, not-
ing thatalthough the hospital-
ization ratehas increased,
34 percent of thestate’shospital
and ICU bedsremain open.
But doctors have countered
thatjustbecauseabed is open
doesn’t mean there will be
enough staff. MonumentHealth,
ahospitalsystem in South Dako-
ta, issuedastatement this week
thatitisexperiencing“stressed
capacity” acrossthe state.
“Our limiting factor isn’tbeds,
it’s staff,”saidJohn Pierce, presi-
dent of Rapid CityHospital,
notingthatthe facilityhas a
“record high”number of corona-
viruspatientsand is having to
shiftnon-cor onavirus patients
to otherhospitals and hiri ng
contractcaregivers.
Chris Bjorkman, of De Smet,
S.D., losther husband,John, 66,
aretired schools superinten-
dent, after both were sickened
by the coronavirus in September.
Bjorkman had to be flown to a
hospital in Marshall, Minn.,
when hiscondition worsened
and there was no room for him
in South Dakota, she said.
He eventual ly endedupback
in ahospitaland died Oct. 20.
Thelasttime she was able to
speak to him, she said, he told
her the hospitalfood wasawful,
so she hadameat-lovers pizza
delivered to his room.
Bjorkman said thatsince her
husband’s death she has been
disheartened thatsofew of her
neighbors have been wearing
masks.Even the clerks in her
local supermarket didn’t wear
them untilone of her family
members calledthemout on it
last week.
“People are not taking it seri-
ous,”she said.“Somejustdon’t
care.”
[email protected]
[email protected]

Jacqueline Dupree andEmily Wax-
Thibodeauxcontributed to this
report.

have pointed toadramatic up-
tick in the positivityratein
diagnostic testing in recent
weeks —rising from just
percentamonth agoto15per-
cent onThursday.
Overall, nearly 202,000 peo-
ple have tested positive in the
statesincethe pandemicbegan,
and nearly 2,800 people have
died.
“This isgoing to bealong
dark winter,” Walz told reporters
Tuesday. “[You] can’t wish it
away,can’t hope it, can’t think
it’s notreal. This is killinglarge
numbers of people.”
Whathas worriedstateoffi-
cials is thatthere is nohotspot in
Minnesota—the entire stateis
describedasa“red zone.”Cases
and hospitalizations have risen
dramatically in all regions, in-
cluding rural areas thathad
been largely spared by the dis-
ease until recentweeks.
In Itasca County,arural area
of 45,000 residents northwestof
Duluth, countyhealth officials
said there were 200 coronavirus
cases and 13 deaths through
September.Numbers have sky-
rocketed in the pastfew weeks —
averaging about 200 to 300 new
casesaweek —withapositivity
ratesohigh thatthe beleaguered
countyhealth department an-
nounced it would no longerdo
contacttracing and focus its
efforts on protecting“high-risk
settings” including schools and
long-term-care facilities.
An underlying concernfor
stateofficials is the pressureon
Minnesota hospitals.
Statehealth officials have
warned of dire capacity levels
statewide in terms of the num-
ber ofavailableintensive-care
beds, sayingthisweek thatthey
wereat 90 to95 percentcapacity.
In theTwin Cities, just22ICU
beds wereavailable—statistics
thatWalz described as “cata-
strophic.”Hospitals and the
stateare trading information
hour by hour on capacityre-
straints and how to move pa-
tients. Officials are beginning to
enlistretired health-care work-
ers to helpinwhatcould be a
nightmarish scenario in coming
weeks.

AndrewT.Pavia, chief of pedi-
atric infectious diseasesatthe
UniversityofUtah School of
Medicine, said onapress call
organized by theInfectious Dis-
eases Society of America on
Wednesdaythatthe “enormous
surge” in theUpper Midwestand
mountain states is concerning
because health-care access in
some rural areas is alreadylimit-
ed andstaffand facilities taxed.
“The situation really has to be
describedasdire,”Pavia said,
saying thatthe “political cli-
mate”and “generaldistru st of
the government”inthese areas
resulted inareluctance of public
officials to takemore stringent
measures tostop the spread of
the novel coronavirus, which
causes the disease covid-19.
Mass gatheringssuch as the
motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.,
also contributed,Pavia said, as
well as universitystudentsat-
tending classes thatwerelargely
in person.
More than 330 coronavirus
cases and one death were direct-
ly linked to the Sturgis bikerally
as of mid-September,according
to aWashingtonPost surveyof
health departmentsin23states.
“There’s an awful lot of pre-
ventable deaths happeningright
now,” Paviasaid.
Doctorsatone of the region’s
largesthealth-care systems,Ave-
ra HealthinSioux Falls, S.D.,
with facilitiesinSouthDakota,
Minnesota,Iowa,Nebraska and
NorthDakota,saidthatits mod-
eling showed the virussurgewas
onlygoing togetworse in the
co mingweeks. Already,some of
its facilitiesare nearingcapacity
and between 200 and 400 of its
staffer sare either out sick or in
quarantine, officials said.
In Minnesota,stateofficials
presented grim newinfection
numbersThursday—with7,
peopletesting positive—and
warned thatthe stateisonpace
to seeat least100,000new cases
by Thanksgiving.
Thestate reported 39 deaths
Thursday. It setarecordthe day
before,reporting that59people
had died of covid.
In stressing the urgencyofthe
situation,state health officials

the coronavirus pandemic


As of8p.m. Thursday

Nov.

Nov.

10,557,

242,231 1,

153,

7-da yavg.

7-dayavg.
2k
1k

125k
100k
75k

50k
25k

150k

3k

175k

April MayJune July Aug. Sept.Oct.

April MayJune July Aug. Sept.Oct.

Newcoronavirus casesand deaths
in theU.S., by day

Feb. 29

Feb. 29

Yesterday

Total

CASES

Total

Yesterday

DEATHS

experts say.
Thesitua tionhas become so
acute thatevensome leaders
who previously resisted restric-
tions have moved toward new
strictures. RepublicanGov. Kim
Reynolds inIowa, long an oppo-
nent of closures and mask-wear-
ing as “feel-good”options, this
week movedtoprohibit mask-
less indoor gatherings of 25 or
more and requirethoseattend-
inglarger outdoorevents to
wearamask.
In Minnes ota, Gov. TimWalz
(D) has warned of more “night-
mare”numbers to come,even as
the statehas instituted new
restrictionsonbars, restaurants
and social gatheringsinanat-
temptto stop the spread. On
Friday, Minnesota will begin
limiting socialgatherings to 10
peopleorless and tightening
restrictionsonlarger social re-
ceptions as the countryheads
into aholidayseason when doc-
tors fearmultigenerational fam-
ily gatherings could become su-
perspreaderevents.
In NorthDakota, wherecases
have increased 60 percentinthe
pastmonth, Republican Gov.
Doug Burgum said this week
thatthe state’shospitals areat
capacityand are sostrained that
the statewillallow its doctors
and nurses to continue working
after theytestpositive for the
coronavirus.Hisspokesman lat-
er qualified this isapotential
short-term tool.
Even though he has continued
to resistastatewide mask man-
date, Burgum urged his fellow
residentsto ta ke precautions as
hospitals brimmedwithpa-
tients.
“You don’t have to believe in
covid,you don’t have to believe
in acertain political party or not,
you don’t have to believe wheth-
er masksworkornot.You can
justdoitbecause youknowthat
one thing is veryreal. And that’s
that100 percent of our capacity
is now being used,”Burgum said.
Doctorsand health-carepro-
vidersacross theUpper Midwest
grappling with rising caseloads
and staffshortages continue to
urgeleadersintheir states to do
more to stem the tideofthe
viru s, as manyinthese hardy,
win d-sweptstates where inde-
pendence is prizedstill refuse to
wear masks.
“Wehad months to prepare
for this, we sawithappen in
otherstates thatwere hit earlier.
Whyweren’t we prepared for
whatwas coming?”said Sarah
Newton, chiefmedical officer of
the hospital in tinyLinton, N.D.,
population 997.
She said she sawcoronavirus
cases begin surging in late Sep-
temberand October, andon
some days ill patientsfilled the
hospital, alow-slung brick
critical-accessfacilitywith
beds.
“I felt so emotionally over-
whelmed by whatIwas seeing.I
felt likeIwas screamingintoa
void.Iwas drowning inmy own
hospital,” Newton said.
Thedisconnectwithwhatwas
going on insidethe hospital and
her communitywas extreme,
Newton said. She wouldgoout-
side and see no one wearing a
mask or socialdistancing,“hav-
ing giant weddings andgoing
about their lives.”
This week, the unthinkable
happened. She called several
hospitalsinthe region and was
unable tofind an intensive-care
bed in abiggerhospital to
transferarapidly declining coro-
navirus patient who needed
more help than hersmall facility
could provide.
“Wehavepeople we are not
able togettoahigherlevel of
care, and honestly,it’sahorrible
feeling,” Newton said.“Wehave
failed to do the things that
prevented us from being here.”


MIDWESTFROMA


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BING GUAN/REUTERS

BING GUAN/REUTERS

FAMILY PHOTO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOP:Peoplewait in their vehiclesat adrive-through coronavirus
testingsiteattheBismarckEvent Centerin NorthDakota.
MIDDLE:TheemergencyroomatAveraSt. Luke’sHospital,a119-
bedrural hospitalinAberdeen,S.D.Asurge in cases is
overwhelminghospitals acrossthe region. ABOVE:John
Bjorkman, 66, diedofthecoronavirus.Hehad tobeflowntoa
hospitalinMarshall,Minn.,when there wasnoroomfor him in
South Dakota. Hiswifesaidsheis dismayed that so fewofher
neighbors wear masks.Toviewavideoonthe advantages of
mask-wearing,gotowapo.st/CoronavirusMidwest.
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