Marred by trauma after George Floyd’s death, Minnesota’s Minneapolis hit with second wave of looting

Marred by trauma after George Floyd’s death, Minnesota’s Minneapolis is hit with second wave of looting. Floyd’s death on May 25th 2020 sparked protests around United States and a national reckoning on racial inequality and police brutality, but the city where it all began remains a powder keg of tension as traumatized residents still reeling from this summer’s events look toward an uncertain future. People have a lot of anger with the police.

People are frustrated with the system. It is a very scary situation. That anger reignited when a homicide suspect being pursued by police fatally shot himself outside Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, sparking false rumors amid mistrust in police that the man had been gunned down by law enforcement. Police released surveillance video of the man’s death within 90 minutes of the incident, but crowds gathered, leading to protests, looting and confrontations with police as some people began breaking into restaurants and retail stores surrounding the mall.

Governor Tim Walz declared an emergency in Minneapolis and sent in the National Guard and more than 100 state troopers. Officers used flash-bang grenades to dispel protesters who continued to gather late into the night. More than 130 people were arrested. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ordered two days of curfews. The recent unrest felt like the initial looting, and business owners once again were not getting enough protection.

Business owners called on city and state officials to do more to address longstanding issues over injustice and policing that had been brought to a boiling point with Floyd’s death.

If the longstanding issues are not going to be fixed, business owners are going to keep suffering more and more of this trauma and things are going to be coming up again. Waves of mostly peaceful protests that swept Minneapolis after Floyd’s death were marred by several days of looting. More than a dozen businesses near East Lake Street and Chicago Avenue were destroyed.

Overall, nearly 150 buildings were targeted and set afire, with dozens burning to the ground in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul. The killing of Floyd has brought a torrent of pain and anguish to Minneapolis, to United States, and has especially impacted the Black community. It is righteous to vent that pain and anguish in the form of peaceful protest, but what happened was neither peaceful nor was it a form of protest that effectively moves Americans forward.

Minneapolis neighborhoods have endured an extraordinary amount of pain already, the destruction did nothing to advance racial justice in the city. Small, minority-owned businesses were targeted. There was no regard for the workers and the people who have put their lifeblood into these businesses. It was time to restore peace and order. It is shameful that anyone would ever try to equate the actions with Floyd, because it is not.

These individuals were not peacefully protesting or assembling.

Businesses were already struggling after being forced to close by the covid pandemic and was destroyed within a week or two of reopening. The entire neighborhood is all crumbled and it is just a very sad situation, many Black and immigrant owners, was struggling from the damage. It has been very traumatizing because this is a neighborhood that was almost at zero and what remains is rubble and storefronts boarded up with plywood.

Lake Street is a place for immigrants where they come and be accepted into this community. This is the place to start a dream, and now that dream is gone, shattered. Watching the neighborhood and Black-owned businesses burn was distressing. The city was traumatized to the core. It is so unstable right now, nobody knows what is going to happen. If something does not change, it is going to keep happening.

The past few months have been a whirlwind from top to bottom. Everyone is questioning everything, it is very uncertain. Nobody really knows who is protecting who at this point. On August 23rd 2020, Minnesota’s latest covid numbers continue to send a mix of hopeful and concerning signals. Daily death counts remain in the single digits, but new cases continue to climb steeply.

Current hospitalizations remain stubbornly consistent at around 300 cases, but the number of patients needing intensive care is down.

About 90 percent of those diagnosed with covid in Minnesota since the pandemic began have recovered to the point they no longer need to be isolated. Among those who have died, about 74 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted living facilities, nearly all had underlying health problems. The newest counts come as state public health leaders sharpen their messages of personal responsibility in the pandemic, concerned that Minnesotans are becoming numb to covid’s risks.

Health officials confirmed 15 cases of covid among Minnesotans who traveled to South Dakota for the massive Sturgis motorcycle rally, and they expect more to come. And in Northfield, 17 students were suspended for the fall semester for being at an off-campus party without wearing masks or social distancing. At least one person was infected with covid and exposed others.

This is the kind of reckless behavior that will put an end to schools’ in-person semester, and it must stop. Others in attendance exposed innocent students, like roommates, who are now having to pay a costly price for others’ poor choices. Minnesotans are on the wrong path now if they hope to return to life before covid. Public health leaders worried about Minnesotans carrying covid back from Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Among the 15 Minnesota cases confirmed, 1 person is in the hospital.

More cases are expected to surface. Kris Ehresmann, Minnesota’s infectious disease director, urged anyone who went Sturgis to self-isolate for 14 days, get tested if they do not feel well, and stay home until they get the test results. The Sturgis motorcycle rally drew some 460,000 people from across United States. Most people did not take significant precautions against covid infections.

Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm had repeatedly expressed concerns that Sturgis motorcycle rally would be a petri dish for the disease and that she was disappointed South Dakota had allowed the rally given that it would attract people from around United States, including places where covid cases were climbing. Sturgis motorcycle rally will be a ripe environment for further spread. Regionally, the Twin Cities and its suburbs have been driving the counts of newly reported cases, although there is an upswing in southern Minnesota.

Northern Minnesota cases have been mostly on the rise since early July 2020. Beltrami County reported 292 cases and 1 death. Meatpacking operations had been hot spots for big outbreaks in southwest, west-central, and central Minnesota. New cases have slowed considerably, although the problem has resurfaced in McLeod County where more than 20 employees at a Seneca Foods plant in Glencoe were identified in an outbreak.

Le Sueur and Waseca counties are also seeing big case increases.

Le Sueur showed 316 cases and 2 deaths. While there has been some workplace transmission of covid, the jumps in those counties is due to community spread. Worries continue about the growth of covid among younger Minnesotans, including that the infected will inadvertently spread the virus to grandparents and other more vulnerable people. People in their 20s remain the age group with the highest number of covid confirmed cases in the pandemic, more than 16,000.

The median age of cases is 36. State health authorities urged parents and others to make sure children in their care are up to date in their immunizations. State health authorities reiterated their concern about college students joining end-of-summer parties and other gatherings that could feed the spread of covid and bring it onto campuses. Clusters of cases surfaced in late June 2020 around college bars, including in Mankato, Minneapolis and St. Cloud.

Concerns over similar potential outbreaks are percolating again as the fall semester nears. University of Minnesota proposed that three of the campuses in the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Duluth begin classes online for at least the first two weeks of school this fall. State officials acknowledged their disappointment at the St. Olaf situation. It is really disappointing to see this kind of behavior just as classes are beginning to start.

Ehresmann hopes that for these students this is an opportunity to learn about the importance of how they make a difference in the community, not only what they do in their careers but by the choices that they make.

The announcement comes in response to news that several colleges and universities around United States have had to cancel or pause their on-campus learning because covid is spreading among students. The proposal to mostly delay in-person undergraduate classes also includes Duluth and Rochester. It would also delay move-in for students who live in on-campus housing.

The university’s board of regents is expected to take up the proposal. The evolving covid pandemic in Minnesota continues to change school reopening recommendations around the state. In the latest batch of calculations, 11 counties saw their recommendations change for the worse if school started away from in-person learning for all students, while 6 counties saw improvements.

St. Louis County had a two-week total of 7.6 new cases per 10,000 residents, averaging 11.5 cases per 10,000 residents. That changed the recommendation for schools from in-person learning to in-person learning for elementary students and a mix of in-person and distance learning for upper grades. Officials say the school reopening recommendations from per-capita case figures are intended to be a starting point for decision-making, with the final calls made by school districts in consultation with the Department of Health.

There is no geographic pattern to where counties are seeing their recommendations go up or down.

Among the nine counties in southwest corner of Minnesota, three saw their recommendation change for the worse, four saw improvements, and two stayed the same. Overall, 51 counties with about 23 percent of Minnesota’s population currently have a recommendation of in-person learning for all students. Another 26 counties with 32 percent of Minnesota’s population are in the category of in-person learning for elementary students and hybrid learning for secondary students.

Nine counties have case levels high enough to suggest hybrid learning for all students in the Health Department’s rubric. They include Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, and Scott counties, and altogether cover 45 percent of Minnesota’s population. Just one county, Red Lake, is recommended to have elementary students do hybrid learning while secondary students do remote learning full time.

No counties currently have so many cases that they would be recommended to have all students remote. Minnesotans can apply for a slice of the $100 million in rent and mortgage assistance from Minnesota Housing. The money is intended for Minnesotans who are financially struggling from covid and meet certain income requirements. Applicants can call 211 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Staff speaking multiple languages will be on hand. Applicants can also text 211 and type “MNRENT” or go online to 211unitedway.org.

Once the process begins, applicants can track their status online.

The $100 million dollars is from the federal CARES act and can help pay housing costs like rent, mortgage, lot fees in manufactured home parks, and utility payments. While the money is for both homeowners and renters, Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho hopes homeowners are exploring all their options. Minnesota Housing encourages people who have a mortgage to reach out to their financial institution, and find out if they are eligible to get forbearance because a lot of financial institutions are offering the ability not to pay right away.

Death rates for patients hospitalized with covid had decreased in Minnesota since the start of the pandemic, as doctors had gained new drugs and understanding of how to treat the infectious disease. A covid report provided this week by the Minnesota Department of Health examined outcomes of 4,356 patients hospitalized with covid through July 2020 and found that 12% had died, compared with an earlier report in May 2020 showing that 15% had died. Among those requiring intubation or the use of heart-lung machines due to breathing problems and complications from covid, the death rate declined from 53% in the May 2020 report to 37% in July 2020.

These trends reflected progress made since the start of the pandemic, when there were no proven treatments for covid, to a summer in which new drugs and therapies were emerging. Outcomes of covid hospitalizations vary across racial and ethnic groups, including in the share of patients needing ventilation and of patients who died in hospital care. Lower death rates in some minority groups reflect a younger population of hospitalized patients when compared to white patients.

Older age was a leading risk factor for more severe covid outcomes.

Treatments included dexamethasone, a steroid given to hospitalized patients that reduced the overreaction by the immune system that could be more lethal than the infection itself. Supplies of the antiviral remdesivir had increased to the point that the drug was in broad use in Twin Cities hospitals, often in combination with steroids and experimental infusions of virus-fighting antibodies from the plasma of recovered patients. Except for a spike in cases in late May 2020 when more than 600 hospital beds were filled with covid patients, the pandemic had not caused the surges in Minnesota that overwhelmed hospitals in China and Italy at the earliest stages of the pandemic and in New York.

A guiding premise of Governor Tim Walz’s pandemic response, including a 51-day statewide shutdown in the spring, was to delay and reduce covid case growth that could overwhelm hospitals. Minnesota hospitals were able to learn from the experiences in other parts of the world that sustained these earlier covid surges. Hospitals also pivoted away from early and aggressive use of ventilators in covid patients with breathing problems to other less-intensive forms of oxygen support first.

Part of the reason for frequent ventilator use early on had been to prevent the hands-on interaction required of other forms of oxygen support that could increase virus exposure risks for doctors and nurses. Minnesota’s latest covid analysis showed that shortness of breath was the most common symptom, found among 56% of admitted patients, and that more than half reported fevers and coughs as well. While loss of smell had been a widely discussed characteristic of covid, only 5% of patients admitted to the hospitals reported that symptom.

Patients took a median time of six days after their first symptoms to seek hospitalization.

The median time between symptoms and ICU admissions for patients who needed that level of care was seven days. 304 patients were hospitalized for covid in Minnesota, and 154 required intensive care. Hospitalizations had been increasing slightly in July 2020 and August 2020 but numbers had started to level off. Health officials saw some signs that a second wave of covid cases had crested in Minnesota, where there had now been a total of 66,061 known infections and 1,721 deaths.

That total included 359 newly confirmed infections and 9 deaths. The rolling 14-day average of daily confirmed cases had decreased over the past two weeks in Minnesota from roughly 700 to 600. The Health Department also reported that the positivity rate of diagnostic tests had declined from near 6% early August 2020 to 4.9%. The positivity rate was an important indicator of viral activity, because it was somewhat independent of daily fluctuations in total numbers of tests performed.

The progress at least coincided with the statewide mask mandate that went into effect July 25th 2020, because it could take two to four weeks before public health strategies or other major changes in the pandemic affect the case numbers. However, there was no proof that the mask mandate had that impact. It was often really hard if not impossible to pin down precisely which interventions had which percentage of effect.

At least some of the progress in hospital outcomes was due to an increase in the proportion of patients who are younger.

Group gatherings had increased the spread of covid among young adults and teenagers amid efforts to reduce infections among the elderly residents of long-term care facilities who were at greater risk of complications from infection. Among the 4,356 covid hospitalizations in Minnesota’s report, death rates varied dramatically by age. Only 2% of the 1,292 patients aged 18 to 49 died in hospital care, compared with 27% of the 706 patients 75 years and older.

Heart disease was a pre-existing condition in 30% of the hospitalized patients while 27% had diabetes and 35% had obesity.