Beltrami County’s COVID website says that due to many residents taking over-the-counter tests, not all cases in the community are being reported accurately. The website also says that the MDH new case data is often at least a week late. As of Thursday afternoon, public health was aware of 270 active cases in the county…
The Minnesota Department of Health, in its Wednesday reports for information current from Friday at 4 a.m. through Tuesday at 4 a.m., added nearly 45,000 new cases and 37 new deaths. Two of the deaths were in Cass County, a resident in their early 30s and a resident in their early 60s. Beltrami County added…
The Bemidji School District facilities will be closed for the remainder of this week as staff prepares for a possible shift to distance learning. According to a message sent to district families, the district is struggling to staff buildings due to high rates of illness among staff, for both COVID and flu. District staff who…
As of late last week, Beltrami County was monitoring 413 active cases of COVID-19, with four local residents hospitalized for COVID. The weekly update from Beltrami Public Health says that over a 14-day period, 558 new COVID cases were reported. Today’s report from the Minnesota Department of Health includes information from Friday, due to the…
The Bemidji City Council has a fairly light agenda today, with the only items under New Business relating to a proposed set of dining amendments. The changes relate to allowing downtown restaurants to expand their outdoor dining spaces in the warmer months, as was initiated in the summer of 2020 in the emergency phase of…
Bemidji and Cass Lake Bena schools, among others across the state, are taking an extra day off for the holiday break today. Bemidji Superintendent Tim Lutz said Thursday that the district’s “ability to maintain the capacity to operate our schools is being greatly strained.” Lutz noted that staff absences, a lack of available substitutes, and…
U.S. Senator Tina Smith checked in to highlight some of the recent changes to at-home COVID testing. Beginning this weekend, private insurance companies will be required to cover eight of these at-home tests for each American every month. Supply chain issues have made some of these tests harder to come by, but Senator Smith says…
As 2022 dawns, the Covid conversations continue, especially now that mutations of the original are causing a rapid spread of the virus. The latest is Omicron, which reportedly is far more contagious than other variations (which is saying something!) but the symptoms, in general, don’t seem to be as severe. What does it all mean?…
Gov. Tim Walz is rolling out another vaccine incentive program, but this time, for the state’s kids aged 5 through 11. “As Omicron surges across our nation, we’re continuing to use every resource we have to keep our families safe and healthy,” said Walz in a release. “There’s a lot of highly transmissible virus circulating…
The Minnesota Department of Health’s latest report shows some decline in the COVID test positivity rate for Beltrami County. For three full weeks of December, the county’s positivity rate was between 7 and 10 percent, compared to the between 10 and 15 percent rate from mid to late November. The CDC COVID tracker shows a…
