Officials say COVID is much more widespread in MN than originally thought

ST. PAUL (LEARFIELD) – The Minnesota Health Department says their latest research indicates the COVID epidemic is much more widespread than originally thought, with only about one percent of the actual cases being detected through testing.

Multiplied out, that would come to over 133 thousand COVID cases in Minnesota. The state Health Department’s Kris Ehresmann (AIRZ-man) says so far in *detected* cases the numbers are trending similar to nationally.

“We’ve got 20 percent of our cases hospitalized and deaths are at four percent of the cases that we have identified,” said Ehresmann.

Ehresmann says even though Minnesota has focused its COVID testing on high-risk groups, the state’s death rate is still within the parameters of what’s being seen globally.