Feds in town to assess Minnesota's COVID-19 response

A federal COVID-19 response team is in Minnesota this week to review state pandemic strategies and offer recommendations to prevent a recent uptick in cases from producing a surge of hospitalizations and deaths.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced in a call with state leaders late last week that he was sending a team, and it arrived Monday. Azar's concern is that Minnesota might be following the pattern of Southern and Western states that have seen rising cases followed by more deaths and hospitalizations, said Kris Ehresmann, state infectious disease director.

"You've got states like Minnesota where we've been kind of flying under the radar through June and things were quiet, and then we're starting to see this uptick and increase in our cases," Ehresmann said. "And so the federal goal is to say, 'Let's reach out to Minnesota and talk through stuff ... so that Minnesota and Minneapolis don't turn into Arizona, Texas, California, Florida.'"

https://www.startribune.com/feds-now-in-town-to-assess-covid-response-in-minnesota/571882692/